Page:Sea and River-side Rambles in Victoria.djvu/106

87 for at a much greater depth by means of the dredge, should the collector desire them in really good condition; the pretty white specimens which our Lady Algologists consider so great a boon, are valueless,—that color, as in the Corallines, being but the condition of death; the Apjohnia lætevirens, naturally of a pale green, and the black Melanthalia with many others, are frequently found in this state, but they should be rejected, or retained only until more perfect specimens are obtained.

Already in our chapter on the Aquarium, our readers will have seen how necessary Seaweeds are to maintain the purity of the waters, and thus the lives of the dwellers therein. It is scarcely possible to give any true picture of the vast amount of life dependent on these marine plants. "The great forests of Fuci and Seaweeds," (remarks Mrs. Sommerville,—Physical Geography, 4th edition, page 412) "are everywhere a mass of infinitely varied forms of animal life, either parasitical, feeding on them, or seeking shelter among them." Darwin too in his interesting book to which we have elsewhere referred, says, that "a great volume might be written, describing the inhabitants of one of these beds of Seaweeds: often as I recurred to a branch of the kelp, I never failed to discover animals of new and curious structure." Who now then will question the uses of Algae? Each one indeed—

Absolutely necessary as it is that Algae should not be subjected to the action of the sun, which causes