Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/547

Rh A L G A L G 509 As regards the distribution of seaweeds, some are cosmo politan or pelagic, as species of Ulva and Enteromorpha, which are equally abundant in high northern and southern latitudes, as they are under the equator and in temperate regions. Many Diatomaceoe are distributed from pole to pole. In general, however, seaweeds are more or less limited in their distribution, so that different marine floras exist in various parts of the ocean. The marine species have been estimated at about GOOD, and they are distributed in various regions. The Northern Ocean, from the pole to the 40th degree, the sea of the Antilles, the eastern coasts of South America, those of New Holland, the Indian Archipelago, the Mediterranean, the Eed Sea, the Chinese and Japanese seas, all present very large marine regions, each of which possesses a peculiar vegeta tion. The degree of exposure to light, and the greater or less motion of the waves, are important in the distribution of Algae. The intervention of great depths of the ocean has an influence on sea plants similar to that of high moun tains on land plants. Melanospermea3 increase as we approach the tropics, where the maximum of the species is found. Rhodospermeae chiefly abound in the temperate zone ; while Chlorospermeaa form the chief marine vegetation of the polar zone, and abound in the colder temperate zone. The green colour is characteristic of those Algre which grow either in fresh water or in the shallower parts of the sea; the olive-coloured Algae are abundant between the tide-marks ; while the red-coloured species occur chiefly in the deeper and the darker parts of the sea. Some seaweeds are worthy of note on account of the mode of their growth and distribution. Chorda, Filum, a long cord-like seaweed, lies in beds of 15 to 20 miles in length, and only about 600 feet in breadth, in the North Sea and the British Channel. Saryassum lacciferum con stitutes the Gulf-weed, which has been noticed by all who have crossed the Atlantic. The Gulf-weed has never been seen attached, but always floating. From the abundance of this seaweed its locality is called the Sargasso Sea. The most remarkable of the seaweeds, as regards size and the extent of range, are Macrocystis pyrifera and Lami- nttria radiatei. Masses of Macrocystis, like green meadows, are found in every latitude. Many specimens have been seen about 300 feet long ; some even extend to 700 feet or upwards. A tree seaweed, Lessonia fuscescens, with a stem 10 feet long, 12 inches in circumference, and its fronds 2-3 feet long and 3 inches broad, is found in im mense masses off the Patagonian regions. D Urvillcca utilis is another large Antarctic seaweed, which, along with Lessonise, occurs at the Falkland Islands, formed by the surf into enormous vegetable cables, several hundred feet long, and thicker than the human body. In Britain we have a marked distribution of seaweeds as regards depth. There is a littoral zone lying between high and low water marks, divided into sub-regions characterised by the follow ing seaweeds: 1. Fucus canaliculatus ; 2. Fucus vesicu- losus ; 3. Fucus nodosus ; 4. Fucus serratus. Secondly, there is a laminarian zone, commencing at low-water mark, and extending for a depth of 7 to 15 fathoms. Here we meet with the great tangle seaweeds, such as Laminaria digitata and L. saccharina, along with deep- water Fuci. (j. H . B.) ALGABDI, ALESSANDRO, one of the most celebrated sculptors of Italy, was born at Bologna in 1602, and died in 1654. While he was attending the school of the Caracci his preference for the plastic art became evident, and he placed himself under the instruction of the sculptor Con- venti. At the age of twenty he was brought under the notice of Duke Ferdinand of Mantua, who gave him several commissions. He was also much employed about the same period by jewellers and others in modelling in gold, silver, and ivory. After a short residence in Venice, he went to Rome in 1625 with an introduction from the Duke of Mantua to the pope s nephew, Cardinal Ludovisi, who employed him for a time in the restoration of ancient statues. The death of the Duke of Mantua left him to his own resources, and for several years he earned a precarious maintenance from these restorations and the commissions of goldsmiths and jewellers. In 1640 he executed for Pietro Buoncompagni his first work in marble, a colossal statue of San Filippo Neri, with kneeling angels. Imme diately after, he produced a similar group, representing the execution of St Paul, for the church of the Barnabite Fathers in Bologna. These works, displaying great tech nical skill, though with considerable exaggeration of expression and attitude, at once established Algardi s reputation, and other commissions followed in rapid suc cession. The turning-point in Algardi s fortune was the accession of Innocent X., of the Bolognese house of Panfili, to the papal throne in 1644. He was employed by Camillo Panfili, nephew of the pontiff, to design the Villa Doria Panfili outside the San Pancrazio gate. The most important of Algardi s other works were the monu ment of Leo XI., a bronze statue of Innocent X. for the Capitol, and, above all, La Fueya d Attila, the largest alto-rilievo in the world, the two principal figures being about 10 feet high. The great technical excellence of these works is considerably marred by an exaggeration of expression resulting from the vain endeavour to produce in marble effects which can only be legitimately brought out on canvas. From an artistic point of view, he is most successful in his portrait-statues and groups of children, where he is obliged to follow nature most closely. In his later years he became very avaricious, and amassed a great fortune. ALGAROTTI, FRANCESCO, COUNT, was born at Venice on the llth December 1712. He went abroad in his youth, and in 1733 visited Paris, where he issued his Newtonian Philosophy for the Ladies, in the work entitled The Plurality of Worlds. He was much honoured by Frederick the Great, who, when crowned at Konigsberg in 1740, created him a count of Prussia. He died at Pisa on the 23d of May 1764, and, by his own direction, the follow ing inscription was placed upon his tomb : Hie jacet Algarottus, sed non omnis. He is allowed to have been a great connoisseur in painting, sculpture, and architecture; and he contributed much to the reformation of the Italian opera. His works (6 vols., Leghorn, 1764 ; 17 vols., Venice, 1791-4) are numerous, and on a variety of sub jects, abounding with vivacity, elegance, and wit. ALGARVE, the most southerly province of Portugal, is bounded on the E. by the Spanish province of Seville, from which it is separated by the river Guadiana ; on the N. by Alemtejo ; and on the W. and S. by the Atlantic Ocean. Its length from east to west is 85 miles, the average width is 22 miles, and the area, according to the most recent measurement, 1865 square miles. In 1868 the population was 177,342, giving the small proportion of 95 to the square mile. The Sierra de Caldeiraon and the Sierra de Monchique extend across the northern part of the province, and, sweeping to the south-west, terminate in the lofty pro montory of Cape St Vincent, the south-west extremity of Europe. Between the mountainous tracts in the north and the southern coast stretches a narrow plain, watered by numerous rivers flowing -southward from the hills. In the hilly districts the roads are bad, the soil unsuited for cultivation, and the inhabitants few. Flocks of goats are reared on the mountain sides. The level country along the southern coast is more fertile, and produces in abun-