Ocean letween Europe and America. 1 3 



lines length ; under each leaf are from one 

 to three berries, but I never have feen them 

 exceed that number. Some berries were 

 fmall, and when cut were quite hollow and 

 confifted of a thin peel only, which is cal- 

 culated to communicate their buoyancy to 

 the whole plant. The leaves grow in pro- 

 portion narrower, as they approach the ex- 

 tremities of the branches : their upper fides 

 are fmooth, the ribs are on the under fides, 

 and there likewife appear fmall roots of 

 two, three or four lines length. I was told 

 by our mate that gulf weed, dried and pound- 

 ed, was given in America to women in 

 childbed, and befides this it is alfo ufed 

 there in fevers. The whole ocean is as if 

 it were covered with this weed, and it muft 

 alfo be in immenfe quantities in the gulf of 

 Florida, from whence all this driving on 

 the ocean is faid to come. Several little 

 jhells pointed like horns, and Efcharce or 

 Horn wracks are frequently found on it: and 

 feldom is there one bundle of this plant to 

 be met with, which does not contain either 

 a m'mutejhrimp, or a fmall cra6, the latter 

 of which is the Cancer minutus of Dr. Lin- 

 naus. Of thefe I colledted eight, and of 

 the former three, all which I put in a glafs 

 with water: the little fhrimp moved as 

 fwift as an arrow round the glafs, but fome- 



times 



