70 SEA WEEDS. 



rest of that dreadful night passed in comparative 

 comfort. At daybreak their perilous condition was 

 discovered from the shore, and they were rescued 

 "A little learning/' in this case, was certainly nc 

 "dangerous thing." 



The Sea Weeds, or marine " Algae," as they are 

 termed, belong to the first great natural order 

 of plants, the Acrogenous ; they are so called be- 

 cause, with a few exceptions, they are devoid of 

 the usual appendages of plants stems, leaves, 

 and flowers. Some of the simplest forms belong- 

 ing to this order consist merely of a mass of cellu- 

 lar tissue. The mpuld which collects in damp 

 places, and sometimes upon the top 

 of articles of food that have been 

 kept in damp closets, is a little plant 

 of this order. The green tinge as- 

 sumed by stagnant water, is owing 

 to the presence of a species of fresh 

 water "Algae/' which grows spon- 

 taneously in such places. The beau- 

 tiful lichens that cover the bark of 

 Mould, magnified, some trees, and the rails and boards 

 of old fences, the many kinds of 

 moss with which our woods abound, and the un- 

 sightly mushroom and toadstool, all belong to this 

 order of plants. In all these there exists nothing 

 which can be strictly defined as either stem, leaf, 

 or flower; but in the "Ferns," which also belong to 

 the same order, we see the connecting link between 

 the higher and the lower forms of vegetable life. The 



