Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/141

100 glides smoothly along, a bush here and there of large size springing from the bottom, conspicuous above the olive and purple bed of common weeds by its light greenish grey colour. These are the plants in question. It is difficult to procure a growing specimen, for the rocks to which the plants are attached are here all rather large and heavy masses, and the depth of water even at low-tide prevents the use of the hammer and chisel. By means of a boat-hook, however, I have torn up considerable portions of a shrub, from which I have then carefully severed uninjured branches, which, being bound to the surface of a shell or stone, survived some time in an Aquarium, and displayed their remarkable gorgeousness of colour to great advantage. None of this is visible when the specimen is removed from the water; it is a shrub with stout compact branches of a pale yellowish-olive hue, set with needle-like leaves, whence its trivial name of ericoides or "heath-like;" while another marked character is the swelling of the branches into oval air-bladders, which, though solitary in this species, more generally run in strings of several in succession, as indicated by the generic name Cystoseira or "bladder chain." But the moment the plant is submerged all its glory returns: the pale olive branches become invested with a most brilliant flush of iridescent light blue, not changeable in tint, though varying in intensity according to the play of light that falls upon it.

Thus it may be compared to some Christians, who are dull and profitless in prosperity, but whose graces shine out gloriously when they are plunged into the deep floods of affliction.