SEA-WEEDS. 



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The most beautiful of all the Melanosperms must 

 not be passed over in silence. It is not a sea-weed 

 which is very general on our coasts, but any one 

 who finds it may at once recognise it by descrip- 

 tion. This singular 

 production is the Pea- 

 cock's Tail Pavonia 

 (Padina pavonia), and 

 is an autumnal plant. 

 The old writers called 

 it Turkey Feather ; 

 and it was once con- 

 sidered a sea fungus. 

 Its frond is broadly 

 fan-shaped, becoming 

 narrow at the base, 

 sometimes cleft at the 

 edges, and marked with 

 numerous concentric lines. The margin is fringed, 

 and generally turned down or rolled backwards; 

 and every one will admit that its appearance quite 

 accords with its familiar name. This elegant sea- 

 weed has been found in various parts of Devon- 

 shire, on the Scottish shores, and also on several 

 parts of the coast of Kent and Sussex, particularly 

 at Margate and Ramsgate, and it has been occa- 

 sionally seen at Dover. Its place of growth is 

 usually in some of those clear rocky pools by the 

 shore, where the water is still ; and it may then be 

 seen in tufts of two or three fronds together, 

 waving if but a zephyr stirs the surface of the 

 waters. It is about two or three inches high, of a 

 pale yellowish olive-green, with concentric zones 

 of a deeper tint, generally covered with a whitish 

 powder on one or both sides, and its edges are 



