CHLOROSPERME. 23 
rewarded for my forbearance by finding in the same rock pool, and in 
another adjacent, quite a submarine plantation of this rare and lovely 
chlorosperm. The illustration is from one of the specimens of B. hypnoides 
taken by me in October, 1872, and I rejoice to say that it then exceeded in 
abundance—at least in Torbay—its beautiful but much more generally 
known companion. The little plumes of this species are extremely 
delicate, the ramuli are longer and more attenuated, and the whole 
plant is much more abundantly branched, though with less regularity, than 
B. plumosa. 
There is a very curious plant which grows in immense quantities on some 
sandy shores, usually in shallow places, but sometimes extending into deep 
water, and from such situations it is cast ashore after storms, and rolled 
along the beach in great abundance by the in-flowing tide, forcibly remind- 
ing one of the long lines of grass in a newly mown field. The name of 
this plant is Zostera marina, literally “sea ribbon,” but commonly 
known as ‘‘ grass wrack,’’ from its great resemblance to long blades 
of grass: Zostera marina, although growing in the sea, is not a sea- 
weed at all, but in reality a plant with proper roots, deriving nourish- 
ment from the soil in which it grows, and bearing flowers, followed by 
seed. Its structure is very peculiar, for within the beautiful green envelope 
of its long ribbon-like blades, a series of white fibres traverses the plant 
throughout, but too brittle or wanting in tenacity to be of any real or 
permanent value as an article of manufacture. During the American war, 
when the supply of cotton failed, attempts were made to utilize this 
marine product, but, I believe, with very partial success. I have not 
considered it necessary to figure this plant, but as, from its abundance, 
collectors are certain to meet with it, I have given the above brief descrip- 
tion of it chiefly for the benefit of young beginners in the science of 
algology. 
Among the many parasitic green seaweeds that are more or less 
abundant, there are three or four species which must be described here 
for the benefit of amateur collectors, who otherwise might be occa- 
sionally puzzled to make out certain curious tufts of short filaments 
which infest some of the plants they gather for preservation. All of 
these parasitic alge are beautiful microscopic objects, especially when 
they are examined fresh from the water, but their forms are so 
simple, and their structure so delicate that they shrink in drying 
almost past hope of identification. On a future occasion I may per- 
haps figure and describe all these minute plants, but at present I will 
call the reader’s attention to a few only of the most common species, such 
as are pretty certain to be found on decaying Ceramiwm rubrum, in 
shallow pools, and on the terminal branches of Halidrys and other Fuci or 
rock-weeds. Among the latter there are two species belonging to the 
genus Lyngbya, which I have found very frequently infesting the terminal 
branches of Halidrys siliquosa, or the “ podded sea-oak;”’ one of them, 
Lyngbya Carmichaeliz, is represented in Fig. 26. It is found sometimes 
