Page:Sea and River-side Rambles in Victoria.djvu/105

86 former composed of a delicate rose-colored network, spread out on the stems which serve as midribs as in an oakleaf; a microscope only will reveal their beauties, no words can adequately describe them.

Amongst the Chlorospermeæ there are few which can vie in beauty with the Apjohnia latevirens (named after Mrs. Apjohn, a very zealous Algologist); it may be found growing in rock pools at Queenscliff, Lady Bay and elsewhere: in its young stage the plant is composed of a number of club-shaped stems about three inches in height, and of a dark green color, but later trichotomous branches grow from these and form an umbel; at first they are glossy, but afterwards become incrusted with carbonate of lime.

The Caulerpas which abound here, afford, we learn from Berkeley, (Cryptogamic Botany, page 162), nutriment to a host of smaller animals. It is these lovely plants that ornament so richly the sides of all the rock pools at the sea-shore. C. Muelleri in its place of growth, freely waving its dark green fronds under the clear water, so much resembled the branches of the Norfolk Island Pine, that Dr. Harvey had named it C. Araucaria, and C. scalpelliformis is named from the knife-like form of its pinnae. A strange peculiarity in this species is recorded in the "Phycologia Australica," noticed by Mr. Henty, of Georgetown, Tasmania. After having been dried, it will on being subsequently moistened on one side, curl up like the sensitive fish-toys made out of horn shavings, and Mr. Henty has named it the "Marine Sensitive Plant."

The green Algae (Chlorospermeæ) inhabit shallow water, but the Red (Rhodospermeæ) must be sought