SEA-WEEDS. 159 



fear to set our foot on their surface. Everywhere 

 we find stones by the sea, as well as the stems of 

 other algae, clothed with the long filaments of the 

 green rock conferva, sometimes called the Arctic 

 Conferva (Conferva rupestris), and with the paler 

 green species (Conferva latevirens), with bushy 



tufts of a fine yellowish green colour, which, as 

 they dry, become of a grey green, and are without 

 any gloss. During a greater part of the year these 

 plants are found in great abundance. The writer 

 once heard a friend playfully describe some stones 

 which were covered with them, as the "green- 

 haired rocks," and their fibres might well be com- 

 pared to tufts of hair, for multitude. When we 

 gather a tuft, these fibres all hang drooping toge- 

 ther, but a very small portion is sufficient for a 

 dried specimen; as, when carefully preserved, the 

 slender threads of a small tuft may be easily laid 

 out so as to cover a large piece of paper like a 



