246 
T1IE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
:T 
cliordafilum attains a length of 100 feet, growing in 
dense belts fifteen to twenty miles in length and 500 
or 600 feet wide. A tree sea-weed has a stem ten feet 
long and over a foot in circumference, while its fronds 
are two feet long. Bory de St. Viucent claims to have 
seen a Lamarian 1,500 feet long, the stem being as 
large as a man's body, and sufficiently strong to hold a 
vessel of the largest class. 
The commonly-called sea-weeds are cellular, flower¬ 
less. cryptogamic plants found iu fresh, salt, hot, and 
freezing water all over the world, and though many 
have roots, they are merely used to fasteu the weed to 
the bottom. An interesting example of a single-celled 
variety is the Palmella, or red-snow plant, that so often 
gives rise to tales of blood rains, the minute cells color¬ 
ing the snow a rich red, so that the steps of those who 
pass along are dyed with seeming blood. The weed at 
the bottom has a considerable effect upon the local 
coloring of the sea. In the Bay of Loango. the color 
is a deep red, in the Gulf of Guinea a white tint, while 
upon the shoals about Japan the water is of a decided 
yellow. Near the Canary Islands the prevailing hue is 
green, and around the Mealdive Islands almost black. 
The color of the Bed Sea is derived not from the bottom 
however, but from an extremely delicate weed that 
floats upon the surface. A similar phenomenon has 
been observed upon the great salt lakes of the Thibetan 
water-sheds. Local beds of weed are often found color¬ 
ing the sea yellow, red, green, or brown, and often 
having a disastrous effect upon the living forms there¬ 
abouts. Green patches appear occasionally upon the 
waters of southern Florida, destroying all the life in tl\e 
vicinity. One of the first of theso patches was ob¬ 
served in 18-14 by Benjamin Gurry, of Manatee. In 
appearance it resembled long patches or areas of green¬ 
ish matter, from 50 to 200 yards wide and a mile or 
more iu extent, iu which would be floati ng myriads of 
animals that it had destroyed. The sponges that usually 
turn white when the animal dies were black, and about 
the gills and mouth of the fishes there was a thick 
mucus. As soon as large fishes entered the green weed 
theyseamed to lose control of themselves, dashed wildly 
about, and soon died. The last plague was in 1880, 
preceding the terrible hurricane of August. — C. I\ II. 
in “ Evening Post." 
I . 
r jm ^ 
K' ' Jngr if 
“ Morn'in’ sir; sell ye any papers?” was the sound I 
heard while busy writing at my desk. When I looked 
up to answer the anxious appeaj, I saw standing before 
me two ragged urchins whose personal appearance 
showed such signs of poverty and want, that I could 
not refuse to buy a paper and speak a few kind words 
to the little wanderers. 
“ What is your name?” said I to the eldest. 
“ I’m little Pete. I’se only a poor newsboy as has to 
sell papers all day to keep from starvin’. The ‘ little 
11 un,’ as I calls him goes, with me; and, mister, he is the 
cunnin’est feller as ever you see, and he sticks mighty 
close to me. It’s dreful hard on us when the weather 
gits cold, and sorter tough, an’ our coats is all worn out. 
“I’ll tell you as how I found my ‘young un.’ I’se 
goin’ along one of the wharves one mornin’, and I see 
an empty box standin’ there, so I jest looked in and 
there I found him, all curled up like a kitten, fast asleep, 
with his fiddle and bow hugged up tight in his arms. I 
sat right along the box, and waited and waited till he 
