140 HALF AN HOUR WITH SEA-MATS AND SQUIRTS. 



describe some of the commonest objects of the sea- 

 shore, and now proceed to notice others about which 

 there prevails a universal mistake. The seaside 

 visitor will have observed that the long fronds of 

 many of the larger seaweeds are frequently coated 

 over with beautiful and delicate lace-like objects, 

 which sometimes cover the entire surface. No one 

 who has seen these elegant objects can help wondering 

 what they are. Again, there may be picked up, along 

 the margin of high-water, bunches of seaweed-like 

 objects, which, however, seem drier, and rustle more 

 stiffly than seaweeds are wont to do. Still, their 

 leaf, or frond-like appearance, would lead even in- 

 telligent people to conclude they were some kind of 

 seaweeds. At other times the stems and branches 

 of real seaweeds seem to be parasitically over- 

 burdened with similar objects adhering to them. 

 It is. with these peculiar forms that we have now to 

 do, and with others, shortly to be described, that 

 are zoologically related to them. Their popular 

 name is " sea-mosses," or " sea-mats," the latter in 

 allusion to the way in which they cover or mat the 

 surfaces of the large fronds of seaweeds. Instead of 

 being vegetables, however, or at all related to them, 

 these " sea-mats " are animals, or, rather, colonies of 

 animals, and that of a highly endowed'and specialised 

 kind. Fig. 71 will furnish the reader with a good 

 idea of the general appearance of these " sea-mats," 

 whilst Fig. 72 gives a magnified illustration of the 

 reticulated appearance of the fronds when seen 



