2^4 'Mn BOTTOM OF THE ^M. 



in the most marvellous variations of light and shade, 

 in the most fairylike illuminations, changing and 

 reversing at every instant. They almost talk, tliey 

 murmur their complaints, they sing, they get up 

 concerts of which we can form but a feeble idea. 

 What then is wanting to the completeness of life in 

 the Ocean ?— Only Man. 



14. Algae — The untrodden Forests and Prairies of the. Ocean — 

 Animal Life more abundant than Vegetable Life — Sea Plants 

 less widely distributed than Marine Animals — Influence ot 

 liight— Collection of Seaweed on the Coasts — Assistance 

 afforded by the Tide. 



Marine vegetable life is very far from equalling in 

 richness the animal life of the Ocean. The marine 

 flora is limited almost entirely to one class of plants — 

 namely, the algae tribe. These plants assume the 

 most strange and grotesque forms imaginable. The 

 number of species seems almost unlimited. The 

 learned Linnseus counted only fifty, but at the 

 present time at least 2000 are known. 



As we have remarked in an earlier chapter, the 

 marine flora is developed to the greatest extent in 

 the temperate zones. Its extent and variety may 

 be appreciated from the ftict, that in English waters, 

 105 genera and 870 species of algae may be counted. 

 The richness and variety of this class of plants 

 diminish gradually as we recede from the temperate 



