The Flora of the Sea. 



CHAPTER IX. 



MARINE PLANT. 



SALT water covers nearly two-thirds of the surface 

 of the globe. Is this immense extent destitute 

 of the wealth and beauty of life, while the earth is 

 endowed with such a wealth of animals and plants ? 

 The ancient naturalists were far from comprehending 

 all the abundance of life in the ocean. Linnseus, 

 even, speaking of marine plants, only mentions an in- 

 significant number. 



Science, more advanced in our day, has sounded 

 the depths of the ocean, and in those dark regions has 

 found an exuberance of vegetable life not inferior to 



