86 



We were forced by the winds to pass between 

 the islands of Alegranza and Montana Clara ; 

 and as none on board the sloop had sailed through 

 this passage, we were obliged to be continually 

 sounding. We found from twenty -five to thirty- 

 two fathom. The lead brought up an organic 

 substance of so singular a construction, that we 

 were for a long time doubtful whether it was a 

 zoophite or a kind of seaweed. The drawing I 

 made on the spot is engraved in the second vo- 

 lume of our Equinoctial Plants * The stem, of 

 a brownish color and three inches long, has cir- 

 cular leaves that have lobes, and are indented at 

 the edge. The colour of these leaves is a tender 

 green, and they are membranous and streaked 

 like those of the adiantums and the ginkgo bi- 

 loba. Their surface is covered with stiff and 

 whitish hairs ; before their opening they are con- 

 cave and envelloped one in the other. We ob- 

 served no mark of spontaneous motion, no sign 

 of irritability, not even on the application of gal- 

 vanic electricity. The stem is not woody, but 

 almost of a horny substance, like the stem of the 

 gorgons. Azote and phosphorus having been 

 abundantly found in several cryptogamous 

 plants, an appeal to chemistry would be useless, 

 to determine whether this organized substance 

 belonged to the animal or vegetable kingdom. 



* Equinox. Plants, t. ii ; p. 8, pi. 69, 



