28 COMMON SEAWEEDS. 



Enteromokpha Erecta. — This is the finest of the 

 JEnteromorpJice, but usually grows in deep water, and 

 is not particularly desirable for the collector. If 

 amongst the weeds cast up by the storm, it is ob- 

 served of a ricli dark green. 



MYEIONEMA STEANGULANS. 



(Name from the Greek, signifying "numberless," and " a thread.") 



This is a microscopic seaweed. I notice it because 

 it is so common, and so entirely overlooked by collec- 

 tors, except as a nuisance, spoiling the Ulva and 

 Miter 'omorpha. Yes — it surrounds the one and spots 

 the other with apparent decay ; yet, if one of those 

 brown spots be placed under the microscope, we shall 

 see a soft cushion of jelly-like substance full of dots, 

 and the dots are the tips of beaded filaments. If we 

 bruise the mass, or make a section, we shall find large 

 pear-shaped spores rising from amidst the filaments. 

 Exceedingly beautiful is this object, and a valuable 

 lesson on the advantage of minute observation. The 

 hour of waiting for the receding tide has ample work 

 and pleasure for those who possess a microscope. 



CONFEEVA. 



Floating or attached, we find this as a mass of 

 thread-like substance in the tide-pools mostly at high- 

 water mark, for the family is a large one, and belongs 

 equally to fresh water ponds and brackish ditches. 



