58 



C. HEDLEY. 



The Hormosira 

 (fig. 20) grows 

 in dense clusters 

 about eight 

 inches high. It 

 is ochraceous in 

 colour, and com- 

 posed of tuber- 

 culate, subcylin- 

 drical joints. 



Atalowerlevel 

 where the rocks 

 do not dry at low 

 water, the coral- 

 line weed, Coral- 

 Fig. 20. Hormosira banlcsii, a characteristic plant Una chilensis, 

 of the ocean reef; natural size. f Plate TTT fie* 6) 



forms thick moss-like tufts. It is 

 coloured pink to bronze purple and 

 grows a couple of inches high. The 

 invertebrates seem not to favour it 

 as food. When a spray is magnified 

 (fig. 21), it appears composed of 

 flattened heart-shaped joints some- 

 thing like the stem of a prickly 

 pear. 



Fig. 21. Corallina chilensis, 

 a moss-like plant charac- 

 teristic of the lower zone of 

 the ocean reef ; magnified. 



Less abundant is the Sea Cab- 

 bage, TJlva lactuca (fig. 22), a soft 

 thin translucent green sea-weed 

 which grows in small tufts, three or 

 four inches high (Plate III, fig. 5). This is used as bait for 

 fish, and is also readily eaten by mollusca. The TJlva is a 

 tender plant, and is often killed and bleached when a hot 

 sun coincides with a low tide. Its range is world wide, 



