“Where the Northern Ocean, in vast whirls, Boils round the naked melancholy isles Of farthest Thule, and the Atlantic’s surge Pours in amongst the stormy Hebrides; Who can recount what transmigrations there Are annual made? what nations come and go? And how the living clouds on clouds arise, Infinite wings! till all the plume-dark air And rude resounding shore are one wild cry?” J. TOMISON (_“Orcadian Papers.”_) [Illustration] COMMON SEAWEEDS. A severe storm has been raging for several days on our shores, and no ship has dared to cross the Pentland. To-day a great calm has fallen upon the face of the waters, and the sun shines clear in the sky. A walk by the seashore on such a morning will afford an excellent opportunity for collecting specimens of our seaweeds, and for studying their life-history. Here they lie in all their varied colours, strewn on the beach like autumn leaves in a forest. Now is our chance to secure some of those rare and beautiful weeds that grow in the deeper water, and have been torn off and driven ashore by the waves. If pressed and dried with care, they will remain things of beauty for long. For this purpose we use squares of stiff paper or card, on which we spread them out carefully under water. When pressed, they will adhere to the paper by means of the mucilage which they contain. [Illustration: _Common seaweeds.—I._ A, _Sargassum_ (Gulf-weed), B, _Cladophora_. C, _Enteromorpha_. D 1, _Fucus vesiculosus_. D 2, Receptacle of same, with eggs and sperms. D 3, Egg, with sperms. E, _Polysiphonia_.] The delicate fern-like or feathery fronds of those red seaweeds will compare in beauty with the best of our flowering plants. This is all the more wonderful when we consider their lowly origin. For the family of the _Algæ_, to which the seaweeds belong, is the oldest and most primitive of all the families of plants. To the Algæ most likely belonged the first forms of life which appeared on the earth. If we are fortunate to-day we may find a specimen of the famous Gulf-weed (_Sargassum_), which gives its name to the Sargasso Sea, and which is said to have cheered Columbus on his celebrated voyage of discovery. In the tropical Atlantic it covers immense areas of the ocean, and it is occasionally cast ashore on the Orkney coasts, drifted hither by the Gulf Stream and the westerly winds. It is easily recognized by its numerous little round air-bladders, each on a separate branch.