The Sea-weeds are placed on the extreme verge of the vegetable kingdom; and indeed some of them seem almost to partake of the nature of zoophytes. They can live only where there is abundance of moisture, and many of them, such as the different kinds of Fucus, inhabit the sea; by the waves of which they are torn up from their native beds, and washed on shore by the tides. Others are found in the form of Confervæ, or green slime, on the surface of stagnant ponds, or on damp stone or gravel-walks; and others appear to form one of the connecting links between vegetable and animal life, as the joints in which they are produced possess the power of separating from each other, and in their divided state so closely resemble animals, as to puzzle naturalists to know where to place them. The Algæ are divided by botanists into three classes; viz., the jointless, the jointed, and the disjointed. The jointless Algæ are by far the most numerous; and they comprehend all those broad flat jelly-like substances which are called by the popular names of tangle and dulse on the coast, and which are frequently eaten. To this division belong the kinds of sea-weed that are used for making kelp; those from which iodine is procured; those forming the celebrated Chinese birds’ nests; those sold in the oil-shops under the name of laver; and those used by farmers as manure. The jointed Algæ are very inferior in the scale of creation to the first division; but the Confervæ (see _f_ in _fig._ 149) are well known, from the rapidity with which they form a thick green slime, by adhering together on the surface of ditches and cisterns, and in short, wherever there is stagnant water exposed to the open air. The disjointed Algæ are generally found among the Confervæ; but they are so small, and insignificant in appearance, as, in most cases, entirely to escape notice. INDEX. A. Abele Tree, 185 Abies, 212 Acacia, 35, 41 Acanthaceæ, 415 Acer, 315 Achenium, 98 Achimenes, 412 Achras Sapota, 399 Acorus Calamus, 455 Acotyledonous Plants, 234, 236, 238 Actinocarpus, 437 Adansonia, 300 Adenophora, 394 Adiantum, 462 Adnate anther (_fig._ 4), 12 Æschynanthus, 412 Æsculus (_figs._ 127-132), 323 African Lily, 447 Agapanthus, ib. Agaricus, 470 Agave, 451 Agrostemma, 293 Ailantus, 341 Ajuga, 414 Alangium, 357 Alaternus, 345 Albuca, 449 Albumen, 233 Alburnum, 235 Alchemilla, 74 Alder, 189 Alexandrian Laurel, 448 Algæ (Sea-weed), 37, 471 Alisma, 436 Allamanda, 402 Alligator Pear, 424 Allium, 449 Almond, 60 Aloe, 447 Alonsoa, 412 Aloysia, 415 Alstrœmeria, 446 Althæa, 299 Althæa frutex, 296 Amarantus, 420 Amaryllidaceæ, 446 Amaryllis, ib. Amelanchier, 73 American Allspice, 351 American Cotton Tree, 203 American Cowslip, 417 American Honeysuckle, 127 Ampelopsis, 331 Amphicoma, 412 Anacardium, 348 Anagallis, 417