PROPAGATION OP THE GULF-WEED. 581 



to root or fructification, they are fomid ; though, in reference 

 to the questions under discussion, accurate information on 

 these points would be of considerable importance. 



" That some mixture of other species probably exists 

 may be inferred even from Dr. Meyen's statement^ and indi- 

 rectly from that of Lieut. Evans, who, in his communication 

 published in Major Remiell's invaluable work on the Cur- 

 rents of the Atlantic, asserts that he found the Gulf-weed 

 in fructification, which he compares with that of Ferns, a 

 statement which would seem to prove merely that he had 

 found along with the Gulf- weed a species of Sargassmn with 

 dotted leaves, the real fructification of the genus bearing po 

 no resemblance to that of Ferns, though to persons slightly 

 acquainted with the subject the arranged dots on the leaves 

 might readily suggest the comparison. 



" With regard to the non-existence of roots in the Gulf- 

 weed as a proof of specific distinction, it is to be observed 

 that the genus Sargassmn, now consisting of about sixty 

 species, is one of the most natural and most readily dis- 

 tinguished of the family Fucacets, and that there is no reason 

 to believe that any other species of the genus, even those 

 most nearly related to, and some of which have been con- 

 founded with it, are originally destitute of roots ; though 

 some of them are not unfrequently found both in the fixed 

 and in considerable masses in the floating state, retaining 

 vitality and probably propagating themselves in the same 

 manner (see Forskal, Fl. .^gypt.-Arab., p. 192, n. 52). It 

 is true, indeed, that a Sargassmn, in every other respect 

 resembling Gulf-weed, has, I believe, not yet been found 

 furnished either with roots or fructification, neither Sloane's 

 nor Browne's evidence on this subject being satisfactory.^ 

 But the shores of the Gulf of Florida have yet not been suffi- 

 ciently examined to enable us absolutely to decide that that 

 is not the original source of the plant ; and the differences 



1 See Sloane's Jam. i, p. 59. I have examiued Sloane's specimens in his 

 Herbarium ; they belong to Gulf-weed in its ordinary form, and are alike 

 destitute of root and fructification ; hence they are probably those gathered by 

 him in the Atlantic, and not those which he says grew on the rocks on the 

 shores of Jamaica. Browne's assertion to the same effect is probably merely 

 adopted from Sloane. 



