OLIVE COLORED ALG^. 95 



is not more than three or four inches wide, but at 

 least two yards long. The frond is very smooth and 

 glossy, and exquisitely ruffled, so that as it rises and 

 falls with the undulating waters, like a streamer in the 

 upper air, it is, indeed, in form and motion, a thing 

 of rare grace. These plants lose most of their beauty 

 when dried and made ready for the herbarium. But 

 in the water they are most wonderfully fine. I want 

 to say a word for them because I know they are com- 

 monly either passed by- without notice or countenence, 

 and rejected for their imputed ugliness. But you want 

 to see them at home if you would appreciate what 

 they may be under favoring conditions. To those 

 who make their summer home on Cape Ann, and 

 desire to see the wider forms of this species, as they 

 display themselves at their best, I would suggest that 

 you go along the rocky shore south of the village of 

 Rockport, out towards the Light House. As you come 

 near the end of the land, you will find many large 

 and deep tide pools, where these plants grow to per- 

 fection. There, as they bend with their wavy fronds 

 in long, graceful curves, over-arching the smaller Algae, 

 which carpet the bottom, and decorate the sides of 

 the pool ; their own rich olive brown color setting off 

 the brilliant reds and the bright greens of the other 

 plants; they do, indeed, help to make a picture of 



