Among the same group is to be found a most singular rope‐like marine plant, hardly thicker than an ordinary pin at the base, where it adheres to the rock, but swelling to the size of a large swan’s‐quill in the centre. When grasped by the hand it feels as though oiled, being naturally slimy, and covered by innumerable fine hairs. It is found from the length of one to twenty, thirty, and even forty feet. It may be mentioned that sea‐weeds have no true roots, but adhere by discs or suckers. They derive their nourishment from the sea‐water, not from the rock or soil. Another sub‐class of _algæ_ are named the _Rhodosperms_, or red‐seeded, and they are among the most beautiful known to collectors. They are delicate, and some turn brown when exposed to too much light. Above low water‐mark may be found growing largish masses of a dense, reddish, thread‐like foliage, sometimes adhering to the rock, and sometimes to the stems of the great _Laminaria_. This is one of a large genus, _Polysiphonia_ (“many‐tubed”) the specific name being _Urceolata_, or pitchered—it is actually covered with little jars, or receptacles of coloured liquid. “That popular author and extensive traveller, Baron Munchausen,” says Mr. Wood, “tells us that he met with a tree that bore a fruit filled with the best of gin. Had he travelled along our own sea‐coasts, or, indeed, along any sea‐coasts, and inspected the vegetation of the waves there, he would have found a plant that might have furnished him with the groundwork of a story respecting a jointed tree composed of wine‐bottles, each joint being a separate bottle filled with claret. It is true that the plant is not very large, as it seldom exceeds nine or ten inches in height, but if examined through a microscope it might be enlarged to any convenient size.” The scientific name of this marine plant signifies the “jointed juice‐branch.” It may be found adhering to rocks, or large seaweed, and really resembles a jointed series of miniature red wine bottles. The common coralline (_Corallina officinalis_) is also one of the red sea‐ weeds, although long thought to be a true coral. It is a curious plant; it deposits in its own substance so large an amount of carbonate of lime that when the vegetable part of its nature dies the chalky part remains. When alive it is of a dark purple colour, which fades when removed from the water, and the white stony skeleton alone remains. It is, however, a true vegetable, as may be seen by dissolving away the chalky portions in acid; there is then left a vegetable framework precisely like that of other algæ belonging to the same sub‐class. It is a small plant, rarely exceeding a height of five or so inches, but it grows in luxuriant patches wherever it can find a suitable spot.