THALLOGENS. 233 
Such is a brief history of S;/eroplea annulina, in which the 
descriptions of M. Cohn are only slightly abbreviated. The 
strange details give birth to feelings 
of profound admiration in the natural- 
ist and thinker. Here are individuals 
placed ai the bottom of the vegetable scale a i 
which are reproduced by the emission of | 
germs gifted with a movement of their ¥* 
own, and seemingly guided in their evo- 
lutions by a true kind of instinct. 
Looking at these voluntary movements 
80 apparent in the younger generations 
of an inferior vegetable, one is drawn, 
with the German naturalist, to consider 
them as animals, which, by holding them- 
selves immovable, and attaching them- 
Selves to some object, become vegetables. 
ut how much do these facts over- 
throw the notions generally entertained 
of the distinctions between animals and 
Plants ! {n order to know in what 
life consists, it is not sufficient to con- 
template creatures of the higher organ- ve. 
isation only ; the whole series of creation must be contemplated, 
from man down to the humble spheroplea. 
II. Fucacez. 
The Seaweeds closely resemble Confervaces both in structure and 
local habitat. They differ in their mode of reproduction, the 
organs appearing as little green warts on the outside of the plant, 
myested by a thin membrane enclosing the sporules; while the 
antheridia have a spiral filament. Some of them are used as food, 
as Alaria Esculenta, and £ucus vesciculosus, which are eaten by the 
inhabitants of Scotland and {reland, and the natives of the shores 
- the Pacific. They have also been extensively employed for 
industrial purposes, both in our own and other countries, in the 
manufacture of kelp, glass, and especially iodine, which is extracted 
