



NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 325 
month and the beginning of March, I have collected some of my hand- 
somest sea-weeds; and we generally find in the coldest months the long 
fronds of Laminaria saccharina, nearly twenty feet long, which are never 
seen here in the warmer season. It is interesting and worth noticing 
that the largest marine plants, unlike the terrestrial vegetation, are gene- 
found in the colder parts òf the world. We read that our North- 
west Territory, Alaska, is famous for producing immense specimens of 
lye, as for instance the Nereocystis Lutkeana which forms dense forests 
leaves, each thirty or forty feet in length. Cape Horn and the Cape of 
Good Hope also produce immense species of submarine vegetation, in 
nce. 
But let the naturalist pay a visit to our shores in July or August, and 
he will find the waters red with beautiful specimens of Grinnellia, Cera- 
mium, and Callithamnion, and a little later in the season the most beauti- 
ful plant we have, Dasya elegans, in great variety. 
found in the Mediterranean. Many of our plants are found in Great 
Britain and Ireland, while some are peculiar to this country. 
But let us stroll along the beach, leaving the Algæ, and see what shells 
can be found. Nassa obsoleta is the most common; th 
tata, Fusus cinerius, Natica duplicata, Crepidula fornicata, 
of Litorina comprise nearly all the univalves. occasi 
ells of Ranella caudata, Pyrula canaliculata, P. carica, 
smaller genera, such as Odostomia and a small Cerithium. 
The bivalves mostly consist of Mytilus edulis, Mya arenaria, Venus mer- 
cenaria, Sanguinolaria fusca, and occasionally, though rarely, Ponar 
sor, Pandora trilineata, and Osteodesma hyalina. There are a few others 
found here, but so rarely, that a person might visit the beach a dozen 
times without seeing them. In the salt meadows, about half a mile 
from the fort, may be found quantities of Me/ampus bidentatus, and rarely 
i observed at low 
nally find dead 
and a few of the 
5 
ot rare indeed that a single specimen can be found of either ee 
to nus, or Holothuria; I mean in New York, that is from Coney I 
pa to the east of the city, 
aiee city. When we get into Long Island Sound, ie 
k metimes find a few, though they are not plentifu i 
may not be generally known, but I have been assured by ornitholo- 
sists, that Long Island has produced more species of birds than any other 
