SEA-WEEDS. 129 



kind of sea-weed usually lessens as we approach 

 towards the low- water mark ; while, on the other 

 hand, these are the plants which vegetate at 

 greatest depth, and form submarine forests, into 

 which the voyager, as he passes over the deep 

 blue waters, looks down with wonder and delight. 

 There he sees masses of sea-weeds whose trunks 

 are as long as those of our highest trees, and whose 

 leaves are like those of the Indian forests, and like 

 them wave to and fro in grace and beauty, while 

 their olive colour seems to deepen into blackness 

 as the water becomes deeper. But many of the 

 red sea-weeds need close examination to discover 

 their beauty. No large masses cover our rocks or 

 shores. Many are never seen at all by any but 

 the marine botanist, who goes from the land and 

 dredges them up from deep waters; and many 

 need the aid of the microscope to detect one species 

 from another. These sea-weeds seek the shade, 

 and will not grow exposed to light and air ; and 

 where, as in some cases, they may occasionally do 

 so, yet their less perfect and brilliant colour shows 

 us that this is not their natural and most favour- 

 able condition. It is when far removed from light 

 that they deepen into rich and glowing beauty, 

 and strangely in this respect do they differ from 

 the plants of our upper earth. We know well 

 when the clinging ivy lends its greenness to the 

 grey time-stained ruin, that should some branch 

 creep through a crevice into the ruined darkness, 

 it fades into a dull and sickly yellow or white. 

 We know that our flowers lose all their beauty of 

 colour when shut up where the sun's rays cannot 

 reach them ; but it is not so with sea-weeds. In 

 the depths the olive becomes darker, the red and 



