Z HANDY BOOK OP 



the marine Algae, to commence this pleasing pursuit at once, 

 or at their earliest convenience, and to make the recreation 

 of collecting specimens collateral with their study of them. 

 We are confident that they will be greatly delighted 

 as they proceed; and to make the pursuit the more agreeable, 

 we shall do our very best to strip it of the chief difficulties 

 by which it has hitherto been beset. It is our intention to 

 give the classical names and arrangement of all the series, 

 families, and individuals, of the Algae ; to give, as well as 

 the classical, the familiar names ; to intimate, also, the 

 pronunciation of the Latin names employed ; to furnish an 

 engraved illustration of one or more individuals of each 

 family ; and to supply such other information as our own 

 experience has taught us to consider most desirable for the 

 beginner, and which, from the paucity and dearness of 

 works upon this subject, cannot easily be obtained elsewhere. 



In Harvey's Manual (from which we have already quoted), 

 we are informed that the Algae, growing in the depths of 

 the great Pacific Ocean, have stems which exceed in length 

 (though not in diameter) the trunk of the tallest forest 

 trees ; and others have leaves that rival in expansion those 

 of the palm. Some are simple globules and spheres, con- 

 sisting of a single cellule, a little bag of tissue filled with 

 colouring matter; some are mere strings of such cellules, 

 cohering by the ends ; others, a little more perfect, exhibit 

 the appearance of branched threads ; in others, again, the 

 branches and threads are compound, consisting of several 

 such threads joined together; and in others the tissue 

 expands into broad flat fronds (leaves). 



In colour, the Algae exhibit three principal varieties, 

 with, of course, numerous intermediate shades, namely, 

 grass-green, olivaceous, and red. The grass-green is 

 characteristic of those found in fresh water, or in very 

 shallow parts of the sea along the shores, and generally 

 above the half-tide level, and is rarely seen in those which 

 grow at any great depth. Eut to this rule there are except 



