SEA-WEEDS. 155 



which are of so peculiar an appearance, that it 

 may be easily recognised. It much resembles the 

 common corallines of our shore. We often find 



this plant of a much paler colour, or sometimes 

 tinted with green hue, by exposure to the sun. 



Several of the large genus Polysiphonia, are 

 among the commonest plants of the sea-side. One 

 especially is known to every observer of marine 

 productions, by its frequency as a parasitic weed, 

 on the stems of the large knobbed fucus. This is 

 the Fastigiate species (Polysiphonia fastigiata), 

 which forms thick bushy tufts, of dark rigid hair- 

 like filaments, of a purplish-brown tint. In drying, 

 the plant becomes black, and gives this sea-weed 



