WAMNE BOTANY. 2) 



Young algologists who wish to obtain specimens of the 

 Footed Sporochnus (SporocJmus pedunculatus) must seek for 

 them by means of dredging. When thrown upon the coast, 

 or entangled in the nets of fishermen, they are rarely perfect ; 

 and yet none are more worthy of regard, being equally raxo 

 and beautiful. Happy the collector who, when the tide is 

 out, may espy the branches of this clear olive-tinted plant 

 waving in some deep rock basin! but how much is the 

 pleasure of its discovery heightened, and what trains of 

 soothing or solemn thoughts arise within the mind, when 

 gathered from some memorial place ; perchance within sight 

 of Preston-Pans, or beside the Frith of Forth, where the 

 storming incidents of the one, or the wild magnificence of 

 the other, become associated with this most delicate of 

 oceanic Algee. 



Observe the Leafy Laminaria (Laminarm phyllitis) vege- 

 tating on rocks and stones, or in small coves left by the 

 receding of the tide ; as also its unassuming relative, the 

 L. fascia, or bundle -leaved, which rather affects sand- 

 covered rocks. These plants afford, in their comparative 

 minuteness, contrasts to those of the same family which 

 attain their full development in the exotic regions of the 

 globe ; and scarcely may the botanist, when looking into 

 the clear calm waters that often cover their submarine 

 habitats, recognize in gigantic specimens of the Finger-like 

 Laminaria [Laminaria digitata) plants indigenous to Britain. 

 Yet, palm-like in their mode of growth, and rising from out 

 their rocky beds to a considerable elevation, they of times 

 extend far as the eye can reach, and present an aggregate 

 of verdure which equals in richness and luxuriance the 

 magnificence of tropical vegetation. The Lessonia fusci 

 attains the height of twenty-five or thirty feet, with a tall 

 and straight trunk, of considerable thickness, throwing out 

 numerous branches, and covered with lancet-shaped leaves. 

 The L. buccinolia, or trumpet-weed of the Cape of Good 

 Hope, presents, on the contrary, a hollow stem, which the 



