342 



THAT'S IT; 



on the American, as well as the 

 British shores of the Atlantic. 

 The stems are a foot or more in 

 length, alternately pinnated with 

 simple branches. The plant is 

 dark olive-coloured, changing to 

 reddish brown, upon exposure to 

 air. The small pea-like cells 

 growing upon its stem are air 

 vessels, which float the large 

 stems of the plant in water. 



This weed is found abundantly in the Gulf of 

 Mexico, which in ancient times bore the name 

 of the " weedy sea," on account of the vast 

 accumulation therein of marine vegetation. In 

 some parts of the Atlantic the sargassum floats 

 in sucli prodigious quantity upon the surface, 

 as to impede the course of vessels for days 

 together, the ocean for hundreds of miles pre- 

 senting the appearance of a vast swamp or 

 inundated meadow, and justifying the fears of 

 the sailors in the first voyage of Columbus, 

 who, observing their slow progress, and the in- 

 creasing quantity of the weed, became alarmed, 

 lest, forcing their passage against the will of 

 Heaven in search of an unknown country, their 

 return might be rendered impossible.* 



The buck's horn fucus, 2, is 

 destitute of air vessels, but the 

 extremities of the fronds are 

 inflated, forming terminal recep- 



2 



1150. 



tacles, about the fructification of 

 which some doubt is entertained. 

 The fronds are from a few inches 

 to a foot and a half in length, 

 olive green colour, with a tinge 

 of yellow at the extremities; but 

 they become black in drying. 



* Smith's Sowerby's Botany. 



Some weeds attain a great length. The 

 chorda filum, or sea whip-lash, or sea cat-gut, 

 which is commonly found on rocky shores, the 

 long round fronds sometimes solitary, or at other 

 times springing in groups from a leathery sucker- 

 like disc, grows in the North Seas to an enor- 

 mous length. But this is greatly exceeded by 

 another species found in the South American 

 Seas, from 1000 to 1500 feet long. Although of 

 this enormous length, the stem is very thin ; 

 and it is supported in the ocean by the aid of 

 small vesicles full of air, situated at the base of 

 each leaf. 



The dichotomous dictyola, 3, 

 grows upon rocks, as well as 

 upon the larger algae. The 



1151. 



fronds are from two to nine 

 inches in height, green in colour, 

 forming a beautiful specimen 

 when dried. In the summer a 

 series of sort may be seen running 

 parallel with the edges of the 

 fronds ; these are the fructifying 

 organs. There are narrow and 

 broad fronded varieties, of the 

 same species. 



Sea weeds grow with amazing rapidity. A 

 proof of this may be given in the case of the 

 Carr Rock, a sunken rock near the mouth of 

 the Frith of Forth, which was dressed with the 

 pick and chisel, and completely freed from sea 

 weeds, for the purpose of erecting a stone 

 beacon. Operations were suspended in the 

 month of November, and were resumed again 

 in the month of May ; and although the winter 

 had been very severe, still the rock was found 

 again completely covered with sea weeds, some 

 of them six feet long.* 



* Partington's Cyclopaedia. 



