rucACE^. 37 



long-lanceolate, of variable breadth, serrated and ribbed. 

 Air-vessels round, on sbort, flattened stalks. Spore-recep- 

 tacles in the axils of the leaves. 



This plant is found on the shores of the Southern 

 States of North America, and on the coasts of Spain 

 and Portugal, to which latter localities we are probably 

 indebted for the few recorded so-called English speci- 



Sargassum bacciferum. Berry-bearing Sea-lentils, 

 or Gulfweed. 



Stem cylindrical, much branched. Leaves linear-lanceo- 

 late, serrated and ribbed, two to three inches long. Air- 

 vessels on cylindrical stems, round, terminated by a sbort 

 point. Fructification unknown. 



The Gulfweed was probably known to the Phoenician 

 navigators, certainly to Columbus, for he has left an ac- 

 count of it, and it is a curious fact that the position of 

 the principal banks has not varied since his time. Float- 

 ing in mid-ocean, this plant appears to have neither root 

 nor spore, but to be propagated by means of branchlets 

 broken from the mass by the action of the sea. Not- 

 withstanding this apparently abnormal mode of growth, 

 it is wonderfully prolific, and has been computed by 

 Humboldt to cover an area of more than a quarter of a 

 million of square miles of sea, or a space five times as 

 large as that occupied by England. 



Genus II. HALIDBYS. 



Eoot a conical disc. Frond shrub-like, with branchlets 

 having the appearance of leaves. Air-vessels pod-shaped, 



