154 THE SEA- SIDE AND AQTJAKIUM. 



santly imposed upon ; so much did the whole look 

 like a highly finished painting. It is common only 

 in summer. After rough weather, the beach will be 

 everywhere strewed with its transparent pink leaves, 

 so prettily and so delicately veined. 



This beautiful Alga, one writer observes, " so much 

 excels its congeners, that it carries away the palm 

 with no less justice from the vegetables of the ocean, 

 than the rose, the flower of the poets, from its rivals 

 of the garden." 



It reaches a great size in certain localities. Dr 

 Landsborough says " There is in the possession of 

 my friend Major Martin, of Ardrossan, a magnificent 

 frond of D. sanguined, which Sir W. Hooker said 

 was the largest he had ever seen; the single frond or 

 leaf is thirteen inches long and eight inches broad." 

 The average length of this species, however, is about 

 five or six inches. 



Most writers divide the sea- weeds into three classes, 

 olive, green, and red. " This division is not an arbi- 

 trary, but a natural one, for in a great measure with 

 similarity of colour is connected a similar structure. 

 It is not, however, so invariable as to be a perfect 

 distinction. Among the red sea-weeds we find every 

 shade of purple tint, and of a few of the darker kinds 

 we almost hesitate as to whether we should pronounce 

 them to be red or olive-green; while exposure to air 

 and light, in some cases, turns a red sea- weed into a 

 dull yellow or dirty white hue, or renders its crimson 

 of a bright scarlet; and drying in the sun blackens 



