THEES WITHOUT BOOTS. 227 



anywhere, as their nourishment is not obtained from 

 the soil, but from the sea itself. For the same 

 reason they have no root ; indeed, the species which 

 float have not even the semblance of roots, while 

 those which remain t^tationary are attached by a 

 species of sucker more or less lobed or divided. The 

 earth goes for nothing in their development, because 

 their origin is always exterior. Their whole growth 

 is in the water, which supplies all they need, and to 

 which all ultimately return. Land vegetation would 

 not find sufficient subsistence in the atmosphere ; it 

 requires a soil, and trunk, and branches. The alga 

 is supporte'l by the water on which it feeds ; it is held 

 down by the rock or earth to which it is attached ; if 

 it becomes detached, instead of falling like a tree, it 

 rises and floats on the surface of the water. 



As terrestrial plants yield a resting-place for the 

 eggs of birds and insects, so do seaweeds for marine 

 animals ; but, instead of suppoi ting them, it prevents 

 them from rising to the surface, and also shelters 

 them from the voracity of the monsters of the deep. 



As the insect tribes establish their republics in the 

 trees of our forests, so the sponges attach themselves 

 to the light algae, and the polypi take them for their 

 fragile base. Even the sea- worm, like the terrestrial 

 serpent, winds its encircling length around the steUiS, 

 the better to seize its prey. 



