C^e ftelpg of 91uan tie tfuca 



Conway MacMillan 



Among seaweeds the kelps include 

 some of the largest, most widely dis- 

 tributed and most important forms, 

 economically. They are technically 

 classified among the brown algse in the 

 family Laminariacese, which comprises 

 some twenty-five genera, seventeen of 

 which are represented in the Straits of 

 Fuca. Kelps occur most abundantly in 

 the colder sea waters, and are very 

 poorly developed, or altogether absent, 

 in tropical oceans. In the circumpolar 

 regions, both north and south, they 

 find their best and most favorable hab- 

 itats. Many of the genera are either 

 monotypic or with but a limited num- 

 ber of species. Alaria, with upwards 

 of twenty species, and Laminaria, with 



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