174 SEA MOSSES. 



Genus— NITOPHYLLUM* Grev, 



This splendid genus must be one of the glories 

 of the marine flora of California, a coast extremely- 

 rich in fine and beautiful species. With its many 

 species of large and brilliantly colored plants, thin 

 and silky in texture, graceful in outline, prolific in 

 numbers, surely this genus would be difficult to 

 match. What could be more charming than a wide, 

 deep, clear rock-pool, where the brown " Kelp " and 

 the green U/va, intermingled with the waving fronds 

 of these crimson plants, should spread themselves 

 out in calm and lazy life, the wonder and admira- 

 tion of every beholder ; or to look 



** Far down in the green and glassy brine. 

 Where the floor is of sand, like the mountain drift, 

 And the pearl shells spangle the flinty snow; 

 Where from Coral rocks the sea plants lift 

 Their b.iughs where the tides and billows flow." 



And see there, growing upon the stems of the giants 

 of Neptune's forest, these brilliant fronded Nitopyhlla^ 



• Red like a banner bathed in slaughter? " 

 NITOPHYLLUM SPECTABILE, EaTON. 



This truly ad?mradle plant, says Prof. Eaton, is 

 " among the largest species of the genus, often two 



♦ Nitophyllum = A shining leaf. 



