402 



THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



their own coasts, boil them to a thick jelly, and bring them to 

 market under the name of Dschin-schan, as artificial birds'- 

 nests. The Dutch call it Agar-agar, and make great use of it ; 

 simple boiling sufficing to convert the dried substance into a 

 thick uniform jelly, which is both nourishing and easy of diges- 

 tion. Thus we see that the algae, which the Eomans considered 

 so perfectly worthless that, when they wished to express theii 

 utter contempt of an object, they declared it to be still vile; 

 than the vile sea-weed, are by no means deserving of so hard a 

 sentence. Man himself might be much' more justly reproached 

 for neglecting the abundant stores of nourishment which nature 

 has gratuitously provided for him on all flat and rocky coasts. 

 For not only the species I have mentioned are eatable, but also 

 some of the commonest fuci of our seas (Fucus nodosus, F. vesi- 

 culosa, Laminaria saccharina), as well as the gigantic alarias 

 and durvilleas of the colder oceanic regions. And yet how 

 rare is their use, notwithstanding the increasing wants of a 

 rapidly growing population ! 



Besides the larger forms of vegetation, the ocean contains a 

 vast number of microscopical plants, Among these the most 

 remarkable are the Diatomacese, simple vegetable cells enclosed 

 in a flinty envelope, consisting of two plates closely applied 

 to each other like the two valves of a mussel. The forms of 

 these minute organisms are no 

 less curious than those of the 

 Foraminifera, for they exhibit 

 regular mathematical figures, 

 and their surface is often 

 most delicately sculptured. 

 Multiplying by spontaneous 

 fissure, many of the Diatoms 

 are met with entirely free 

 after the process of duplicative 

 subdivision has once been com- 

 pleted, while others, such as the 

 Licmophora, or Fan-bearer, an elegant native species, habitually 

 remain coherent one to another, producing clusters or filaments 

 of various shapes, connected by a gelatinous investment or by a 

 stalk-like appendage, which serves to attach them to other 

 plants or to stones and to pieces of wood. Though individually 



Surirella constricta* 



A. Front view. B. Binary subdivision.— (Highly 



magnified.) 



