232 SEA MOSSES. 



down as a rarity. It often attains the height of two 

 or three feet. Sometimes the frond will be perfectly 

 simple, an inch wide, and two feet long, tapering 

 to a narrow base and apex; sometimes a foot high 

 and three or four inches wide ; smooth and blunt 

 at top ; colored so as to closely resemble a frond 

 of Iridcea laminarioides, from which then, it is 

 possible to distinguish it only by a microscopical dis- 

 section, of the structure of the plant. Again, it will 

 be deeply cleft into many lobes from near the bot- 

 tom to the top ; and, at other times, it will put 

 out a series of leaflets from both edges ; or it will 

 combine both these departures from simplicity in one 

 plant ; or it will throw out from the truncated top 

 of a long, wide, simple frond, a number of long, 

 narrow frondlets, much attenuated at each end. 



The color is a reddish brown, changing by fad- 

 ing to various shades of brown and purple, and even 

 to a dull green, or dirty white. Sometimes all these 

 colors will be found in the same frond. It grows 

 in deep water, plentiful in the north. Dr. Dimmick 

 finds it very common near the light-house, at Santa 

 Barbara. It may be looked for at all seasons. 



