282 THE fiARGASSO WEED. 



Of the genus Sargassum^ there are numerous 

 species distributed over the globe ; but the S. vul- 

 gare, or Fucus natans, and other species, are also 

 described as having their habitat in the particular 

 range I have before mentioned ; but I have not 

 been able to find more than one species, some 

 sprigs of which exhibit anomalies, but not specific 

 differences ; for although apparently differing in 

 having the leaves broader, and not so serrated 

 at the edges, yet many of these were growing 

 from plants which had not such distinctions. 

 According to Greville, this genus, the most ex- 

 tensive of the FucoiDEiE, comprising above 

 seventy species, is nearly confined to the two 

 tropics, and examples rarely occur beyond the 

 forty-second degree in either hemisphere : — 



" Flung from the rock on ocean's foam to sail, 



Where'er the surge may sweep, the tempests breath prevail ;" 



will only now be partly applicable to this weed, 

 as it is tolerably well ascertained to vegetate 

 floating on the water, each sprig becoming, as de- 

 tached by the violence of the waves, the contact of 

 ships, or other causes, a perfect and large plant. f 



* The generic name is derived from Sargago, or Sargazo, 

 the Spanish name for the masses of sea-weed found floating 

 on the surface of the ocean. 



f Greville's Algae Britannicae, 8vo. 1830. Introd. p. xii. 



