MARINE TANK. 107 



that one may serve as a support to another, I may men- 

 tion that I have found Fucus bearing Cladophora on its 

 frond and upon whose branches, again, there have been 

 Melosira, whose frond bore Synedra. We thus have four 

 plants, one growing upon another, but none of them serv- 

 ing as sustenance to the one that is growing on it any 

 more than the rock does to which they are all attached, for 

 all these alga) derive the matter to build up their tissues 

 through the surface of their leaves or fronds and have 

 no real root, but only a sucker by which they can be 

 attached to other plants and rocks. 



Codium tomentossum has also been recommended by 

 writers for an Aquariim-aiir&tor, but I have never tried 

 it. It resembles somewhat an Enleromorpha, still, alto- 

 gether, looks more like a sponge than an alga. 



Forphyra laciniata is a beautiful plant, of a fine purple 

 or sometimes dark fawn color, and resembles in form the 

 Viva latissima. It, as well as that species, is eaten under 

 the name, in England and Scotland, of lover, this being 

 the purple lavcr while Viva is the green lover. In Ire- 

 land it goes under the name of Stoke. Its color and 

 the ease with which it grows in confinement recommend 

 it to our notice as an inhabitant of the Aquarium, whilst 

 it also gives off oxygen as freely as Uiva latissima. 



Of the red alga; or FJwdospcrms only a comparatively 

 few can be introduced into our tank ; and the best of 

 these, and at the same time the most common is Grinncl- 

 lio, Americana, which is of a beautiful light blood-red 

 color. It grows in some profusion at different points of 

 the American coast, always upon rocks. Its form is that 



