46 



THE OCEAN. 



delicately-feathered species, of a pink or purplish hue^ 

 is found to be parasitical on the common tangle. It 

 is jnstly considered one of the ornaments of our 

 northern shores, hut is unknown in the south of 

 England, where it is represented by a kindred species, 

 F. sericea, which always grows on rocks. The former 

 must not be confounded with another elegant little 

 plant bearing the same specific name, but belonging 



Bryofsis Plumosa. 



to a different genus, Bryopsis plumosa. The tribe of 

 which the latter is a member is remarkable for its 

 delicacy : in the species now mentioned the main 

 stem is very slender, sometimes forming the midrib of 

 a single feather, and at others set with horizontally- 

 spreading branches, like a pine-tree, each of which is 

 most elegantly feathered. Its colour is a bright-grass 



