PLANTS OF STAGNANT WATERS. 13 



Mary was delighted to find that the beautiful 

 rose-tangles served so many useful purposes in 

 the world ; and she was amused to hear that the 

 eatable birds'-nests, which her brothers had so 

 often laughed at the Chinese for being fond of, 

 are supposed to be made of some of these weeds ; 

 so that, after all, in devouring the nests, the people 

 are, perhaps, only eating a jelly, such as we get 

 from the carrageen and other plants of this family. 

 Her father told her that the remaining alga3 which 

 he had to mention were weeds of ill odour, living 

 in stagnant water, either fresh or salt, and having 

 their stems often coated over with carbonate of 

 lime. They are upright tubes, with whorls of 

 smaller tubes surrounding the stem, and are called 

 Gharas. 



The children were much pleased with what they 

 had heard of the great tribe of plants that inhabits 

 the waters ; and Mary thought it would be a won- 

 derful sight if any one could look down into the 

 deep deep sea, where so many beautiful things are 

 growing. 



"There are no storms there," she said, "for 

 I have learned some pretty lines that tell me 

 so. 



