7. Chordaria divaricata.
8. Ectocarpus siliculosus.
9. Nemaleon multifida.
10. Nitophyllum punctatum.
Such are a few of our beautiful coast Algæ, all of which I would advise the admirers of the beauties of the marine Aquarium to try; and if some refuse, in the present state of our knowledge of their habits and requirements, to make themselves happy in their pretty “crystal palace,” choosing rather to consider it a “prison of glass,” still a good number of them, I am persuaded, may be coaxed into displaying their beauties very genially within its transparent walls, which admit the bright sun rays as freely as the pale-green liquid glass which forms their native element.
The best time for making collections at the sea-side is a day or two after the full moon, when the tide recedes to its greatest extent, and parts of the shore become exposed, where some of the finest species grow, which cannot be conveniently approached at any other time. It must be borne in mind, also, that few of the floating pieces will grow, however fresh and seemingly washed off with their root. Certain success is only to be secured by chiselling off a portion of the substance on which the weed is growing—thus transplanting it with its own soil, as it were, about its roots, into the ocean garden of the Aquarium.
Plate IV.
1. Chondrus crispus.