Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/140

Rh vivid and silky. And, besides the large lettuce-like leaves of Ulva, which here attain unusual size, great patches of rock are covered with the equally large and still more tender fronds of Porphyra of a brownish-purple tint, bearing no small resemblance in texture and surface to gold-beater's skin, and which in the esteem of some persons, perhaps, presents the sole redeeming trait of "utility" amidst a Class proverbially "vile", since it contributes to the indulgence of their appetite. For this is the Sloke or Laver, which, being stewed to jelly and served up with lemon-juice, is a favourite dish at the tables of many. For myself, I am free to confess that the exquisite beauty of form and colour displayed by many of these humble plants; the delicacy of their simple structure; and the purposes which they evidently serve in the great chain of being, of which it has been truly said—

are sufficient qualifications to redeem them from the baseless charge of vileness, even without any pretensions to sapidity

And while I am speaking of beauty, I will mention a species of sea-weed that possesses it of a very peculiar character, and in an extraordinary degree. It grows in the vicinity of the Mixon, though not exactly on it; and indeed this is the only locality in which I have met with it. It is the Cystoseira ericoides. Between the Mixon and the end of the jetty, in about a fathom's depth, we discern, as the boat