Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/53

26 oval bladders of red-wine, set end to end in chains. This pretty sea-weed is called Chylocladia articulata.

Here also grows the stony Coralline, a plant bearing some resemblance to that just named, in the peculiar jointed form of its growth. Low-lying pools are often incrusted with a coat of stony or shelly substance of a dull purple hue, having an appearance closely like that of some lichens; the crust investing the surface of the rock, and adhering firmly to it, in irregular patches which continually increase from the circumference, in concentric zones. This is the young state of the Corallina officinalis, which, by and by, shoots up into little bushes of many jointed twigs, diverging on every hand, or hanging in tufts over the edges of the rock-pools. Young collectors are eager, I perceive, to seize such specimens as are purely white; but this condition is that of death; in life and health, the shoots are of the same pale purple hue as the lichenous crust. This plant in both states, (for plant it undoubtedly is, though principally composed of lime, and of stone-like hardness) is suitable for a tank; as it survives and flourishes long; and your pieces of rock-work you may select from such places as are covered with the purple crust. Both the kind just named, and the more slender and hair-like Jania, I find growing abundantly in the pools of the flat ledges that lie on the south side of the promontory called the Nothe. The latter is commonly attached parasitically to some of the coarser sea-weeds.

The most valuable plant of all for our purpose, is the Sea Lettuce (Ulva latissima). Every one is familiar with its broad leaves of the most brilliant green,