OCEAN GAEDENS; 



(Ceramium sfrictum), which our artist has made too 

 like the Bangia fusco-purpurea. 



In Plate V. the violet-toned Laurencia pinnati- 

 folia is grouped behind the solid, deep-crimson fronds 

 of Iridcea edulis^ which are often perfectly Pear- 

 shaped, like pieces of crimson leather neatly cut in 

 that form; but the action of tides in rough weather 

 often tears the edges, and wears holes through the 

 texture of the plant, as shown in the principal 

 frond. To the left is the bright-crimson MJiody- 

 menia lacinata — one of our most exquisitely beau- 

 tiful marine AlgcB. The fronds are as thin as the 

 finest conceivable tissue, and beautifully trans- 

 parent, which is shown wherever the lacinations of 

 the edge overlap each other, in which places the 

 double thickness of the texture doubles, at the same 

 time, the intensity of the colour, as indicated in the 

 representation. On the same level, to the right, is 

 a small group of the delicate green IJlva latissima — 

 a plant which has proved useful beyond all others 

 in Aquaria, as throwing off, under the action of the 

 light, a much greater profusion of silvery globules 

 of oxygen than any other species yet known. At 

 the same level still, on the extreme right, is a sprig 

 of the delicately-branched parasite, Folysphonia 



48 



