

MAHINE BOTANY. 69 



CHAPTER VII. 



Come, stand with me, and let us watch the tide 

 Obey that mandate which restricts its progress : 

 Nay, sendeth back the proud waves, should they venture 

 Beyond their boundary, though it be soft sand. 



See you not that jagged rhodomenia (It. laciniata), one 

 of the most conspicuous among our native species? Its 

 bright clear red, varying to the deepest crimson, vividly 

 contrasts with the dark, weather-beaten rock to which it 

 clings, and the huge masses of lichen-dotted stones that 

 strew the beach. Let us watch the ebbing of the tide ; and 

 yet, so gently and imperceptibly retreat the scarcely heaving 

 waters, that while we are speaking a change commences. 

 We no longer look down on a mirror-like surface, which 

 reflects every passing cloud or bird, or the beetling crags, 

 with their light wreathing mists, but rather on a firm belt 

 of sand, covered with sunken rocks. 



Poets have sung concerning the effect produced by moun- 

 tain mists, when gathered thickly on rugged heights, or 

 floating lightly around green hills, till, melting before the 

 beams of the rising sun, they reveal the grandeur of the one 

 or the sylvan beauty of the other. But not less worthy of 

 regard is the gradual receding of the tide from off a coast, 

 rich in marine productions, when small coves, or deep-sea 

 basins, formed by sunken rocks, are gradually rendered 

 visible, and sea-weeds, deposited by the receding waters, 

 are spread, as if in triumph, on the shores, or else revealed 

 in their native growing-places; where, too, the little 

 zoophyte opens her mimic blossoms to the sun, as if rejoicing 

 in the consciousness of existence. 



The tide is gone far out, and yonder appears another tuft 

 of the jagged rhodomenia, lifting its bright head above the 

 receding waters. Its ample leaves are fully developed, 



£ 



