form and colour-aye, of colour for, although | American poet, Percival, has beautifully dein this respect they will not bear a comparison scribed such a scene as we may suppose would with the vegetation which clothes and adorns meet our viewthe fields and the forests and the cultivated lands, yet are they variously, and many of them gorgeously, tinted. As Charlotte Smith tells us "How various the shades of marine vegetation, The feathered conferva, of deepest carnation, We will not here speak of those marine plants "The floor is of sand like the mountain drift, From coral rocks the sea-plants lift Their boughs where the tides and billows flow. "The water is calm and still below, For the winds and waves are absent there; The sea-flag streams through the silent water; 66 Thanks to Mr. Gosse, and the Zoological Society, we may now realize, to a certain extent, our conceptions of the wonders and beauties of the deep sea, In the Aquaria, or Aqua-vivaria of the Regent's Park Gardens, we have in truth an unveiling of those submarine halls and rocky chambers, wherein are many strange and lovely forms, both of animal and vegetable life. Therein, as the Psalmist hath said, are things creeping innumerable, both small and great,” which feed upon the foliage and filaments, and delicate undergrowth of the vegetation that clothes the rocks as with diverse coloured tapestry-work, and covers the ocean-bed with long flexible stems, and fan-like or branching fronds, that overshadow all beneath like the intermingling boughs of a dark pine-forest; and there, ever and anon, through the dim recesses, glides the ancient Wrasse, with its silver and vermilion skin flashing and glittering, or some other denizen of the deep pursues its prey or pastime. But with such, at present, we have nought to do, our subject being sea-weeds, and of these we must confine ourselves chiefly to such as are commonly found on our own coasts. We will take first that group called CHLOROSPERMEÆ, of which the main characteristics are simplicity of form, and the green tint which prevails, more or less, in the whole of the species. Included in this order, or series of weeds, are several distinct families and species-many more than we can enumerate here. To this group belongs the beautiful genus Cladophora, which contains about twenty species, and is included in the family conferva, which consists mostly of exceedingly minute tufts of thread-like filaments, springing from a common centre, which is the root. The meaning of the above generic term is branch-bearing, and those weeds included under it are somewhat more complex of structure than the sample converva, two species of which (C. rupestris and C. lætevirens, the former of which is sometimes called the Arctic Converva) are found in great abundance at nearly all seasons of the year. They cover the stones and rocks, and stems of other alge, with a verdant growth, whereon the sea-slugs and snails, and other marine animals, delight to feed. Their slimy pasture-grounds are shallow pools, daily visited by the flowing tide, and stony tracts, of sand just about high-water mark. The Ulve, or Lavers, is another family of the Chlorosperms, of which we have several representations, all remarkable for their flat, transparent leaves, which are so thin and tender, that it is almost impossible to gather without tearing them. The Broad green, Ribbon-green, and Lettuce-lavers are our commonest species: their botanical names are, U. latissima (sometimes called the green stoke), U. linza, and U. lactuca. They have been all recommended, and are sometimes eaten as a salad, and are no doubt beneficial to persons of a scrofulous habit. The edges of the fronds of these plants are beautifully curled and waved, and some of them grow to the length of eighteen inches. They are found chiefly in tidepools and hollows of the shore. The leaves are more or less ovate in form, usually of a brilliant green colour, and remarkably glossy. If growing on a spot exposed to sunshine, the colour looks pale and faded, as it does also when the plant becomes old. This change of tint with advance of age is remarkably conspicuous in the Purple Lava (Porphyra laciniata), sometimes called the Cleft Porphyra. This plant grows on exposed rocks, near low-water mark. In form it resembles the other lavas, than which it appears to be of a still more delicate substance. It is perfectly transparent, and thickly dotted with purple grains, to which it owes the deep rich colour it assumes in winter and early spring, when the plant is in perfection, and is often collected for the table. It is a plant of rapid growth and decay, and may be found in the full stage of development at all seasons; when perfected, however, in summer, it is much smaller and duller of colour, as well as more tenacious of texture; so that some authors have regarded it as a different species-calling it P. umblicata. tubular, and more or less compressed. Equally common with the last species is the Intestine-like Entermorpha (E. intestinales), which is found not only on the sea-shores, but also in brackish and fresh-water ditches. The fronds of this kind are absolutely simple, each springing directly from the root. These are often more than two feet in length, when young, of a bright green colour; but as they advance in age, turning yellowish, and eventually nearly white. Floating and wavering with every motion of the water, they might at times be taken for the golden or silvery locks of some playful Nereid's hair. One of the most remarkable of the British Chlorosperms (which may be frequently found in tide-pools or amid rocks near low-water mark) is an alga of large size and more complex structure than plants of this division generally. Botanists call it Codium tomentosa, and place it in the family Siphoneæ. Its English name is the Woolly Codium. In shape it resembles some of the corallines, the fronds being stout, cylindrical, and much branched. They are of a bright green colour, and spongy texture, and are covered with a downy coat of colourless filaments. Under the microscope the fronds are found to consist entirely of small threads, woven and matted together, and having the interstices filled with a dense granular fluid. This plant has a wide geographical range, being found in great abundance in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as in the Indian seas. Closely allied to it is an extremely elegant little plant called the Feathery Briopsis (B. plumosa) which is not uncommon in the rock. pools of our coasts. Its tiny branching fronds look like a multitude of silky green feathers gracefully joined together by slender stems. When taken out of the water, these fall and become matted together; but expand again on re-immersion. The pleasure of admiring the grace and beauty of this plant may be enjoyed for any length of time, as it will readily grow in the aquarium, or a bottle of sea-water, which will be kept sweet and pure while it continues to vegetate. "The Bryopsis," says Dr. Harvey, "in all its characters, has the structure of a vege table; nor does it much resemble the zoophites in aspect. And yet it is one of those plants which closely link the lower members of the vegetable kingdom with those of the animal." Of the Porphyras, two other species should be mentioned as British plants-P. vulgaris and P. linearis. The former is very abundant on the Scottish coasts, the fronds are commonly from one to two feet in length, and two or three inches wide; when dried they are of a rich purple tint. The latter is a much smaller plant, singularly neat in appearance, and uniformly constant in its habit of growth. The rocks beneath Peakhead, near Sidmouth, are covered There are several other genera of the Chlorowith its delicate purple fronds, seen about high-sperms, which contain British species; but they water mark, covering the loose boulders and smooth rocks with a slippery vesture of bright green, and also filling the shallow pools with their verdant fronds, which to the naked eye appear like silk, but under the microscope prove to consist of tubular membranes composed of minute cells full of granules. One of the commonest kinds is the compressed Entermorpha, which has fronds from six to twelve inches long, some as fine as a hair, and some half-an-inch in width, in accordance with the age of the plant and the depth of the water in which it grows. These fronds are divided nearly to the root into long narrow strips, which are are not such as are likely to be observed by the mere sea-side rambler, for whom our talk is chiefly intended. We may pass them by, and proceed at once to the olive-coloured group, MELANOSPERMÆ. From two Greek words signifying black and seed, the reproductive germs or spores of these plants being of a dark colour. In this series we find the largest and commonest of all, the Algæ. At every season of the year, specimens of these may be collected on our coasts, especially after storms, when immense numbers of them, uprooted by the violence of the waves, are thrown far up the beach, literally blackening the shore for miles. They may also be found growing plentifully just within the margin of the tide, and so down to one or two fathoms below lowwater mark. The plants of this series with which we are best acquainted belong to the family called Fuce, of which there are six British species; two of these, however, are rare, and need not occupy our attention; of the other four we will give a short description. The Channelled Fucus (F. cunaliculatus) is the smallest species, and derives its name from the peculiar form of its stems and branches. It grows in scattered tufts, from one or two to five or six inches high, on rocks about high-water mark. It is rarely found submerged to a greater depth than three or four feet, and never grows in places which are not exposed several hours daily to the sun and air. Cattle are fond of browsing upon this species, which has no air-vessels like most of the other Fuci, and, when in a state of fructification, bears pods in pairs at the ends of its branches. The Knobbed or Knotted Fucus (F. nodosa) is a tough leathery plant, with thonglike stems, which swell out at short intervals into air-bladders, which if thrown into the fire, burst with a loud report. These are no doubt intended to sustain the plant in deep water, where its fronds are sometimes seven or eight feet long. These bladders are sometimes called sea-whistles, from the use made of them by children; they are also threaded on string and made into necklaces, being susceptible of a fine polish; they are sometimes as much as an inch and a half long. In Norway they call this plant Knop Tang; and in the Orkney Isles, Yellow Tang, on account of the orange-coloured pods with which it is covered in the season of reproduction. The Bladder Fucus (F. vesiculosus) is the most common of all sea-weeds; it lies like a black fringe upon the mantle of old ocean, along every line of sand or shingle, as well as on the shores of most tidal rivers; it covers the slimy rocks and piers of bridges, and gathers in huge tangled masses in marshes and in all channels and inlets where the salt waves can find an entrance. If the foot presses it, crack! crack! go the oval bladders, or pods by which it is enabled to float on the waters, and which are much more easily broken than those of the foregoing species. Bladder Wrack and Sea Ware are common names for this plant. It was formerly called Sea Oak; the Scotch term it Kelp Ware, or Black Tang. It has a kind of forked leaf with a mid-rib, with the air-vessels in pairs on each side of the rib. It grows in large patches, generally between high and low-water mark, about midway between which we usually find the Prickly Tang, or Saw-leaved Fucus (F. serratus), distinguished by its toothed margin and the absence of air-vessels. All these Fuci, and especially the two last, are employed in the manufacture of that inferior carbonate of soda called Kelp. This was once a thriving branch of manufacture, and conduced much to the prosperity of the people dwelling on the Scottish coasts and islands, as much as 20,000 tons annually of the salt having been produced there. Chemical science has, however, of late Of manners simple, and of heart sincere ; on lands which are farthest removed from the sea; whether they really are so, let the agricultural chemist decide. Simplicity with gentle grace In Fame's proud chaplets was arrayed, As when they glisten through a tear! MY MOTHER-IN-LAW. BY PATIENCE PERKINS. I am the late Patience Price, immortal by my history of " My Brother Tom." I married a widower with ten children. If you wish to know why, ask my brother Tom, and he will tell you. So much for my antecedents; now for "My Mother-in-Law." I flatter myself that I have common sense; even my brother Tom admits that, as a general rule, though he cites exceptional circumstances. I do know enough to retire into the house when it rains, or to take an omnibus, or spread an umbrella. I have seen children before today; if never any of my own, actual own, all those of my sister's (not a few), and my husband's ten by a former connection; and I do think that my husband's mother might give me credit for some capacity. If marrying a man with ten children is any proof of imbecility, as some people pretend, mother-in-law should, at any rate, be the last to reproach me with it. I do not know how good a medlar among fruits may be, but I do know that a meddler in one's household affairs is intolerable. I do not know precisely what the first Mrs. Perkins died of; but if ever a coroner's jury sits upon me, or if the doctor makes a true return to the superintendent of the Health-office, I know the verdict in the one case, or the report in the other, will be an overdose of mother-in-law." Mr. Perkins, my dear lord and master, is well enough; perhaps I should say, very well. I don't think he killed his first wife; but I do hope I shall never be required to declare, upon oath, what are my firm convictions upon the subject. It might make a disturbance in the family. If the woman was born for a plague, she is fulfilling her mission. Such a peaked face! Such a long neck! Such lengthened sourness, long drawn out! Such a lean and hungry look! If she were anybody but my husband's mother, I could appeal to him for protection; but I cannot ask the man to rise in rebellion against his own flesh and blood, the author of his being. I wish she could be content with the original production, and not imagine that he needs her continual supervision, as an author supervises new editions, and makes alterations in every one ! My welcome to the house was a damper. Perkins, before his marriage, never let me see his mother. Widowers are prompt and artful. Let them but breathe on a maiden with intent to capture, the proverb says, and the end is sure. The fascination of a serpent exerted upon a bird is not more certain. I am half inclined to accuse my husband of duplicity of obtaining a wife under false pretences; the second offence, too, the monster! A man's children we expect to be plagued with; and perhaps the escape from early nursing, Godfrey's Cordial, Dalby's Carminative, teething, and all that sort of thing, is quite an equivalent for any inconvenience which may grow out of being a mother at second hand, with a family capital all ready to commence married life upon. But why did not the creature tell me that he was to be taken with this other and extra incumbrance? Why is not the marriage-service altered to meet such cases, thus: "I, Patience, take thee, Timothy [and thy mother], to my wedded husband [and mother-in-law], to have and to hold"—and the rest of it? I am sure I have and hold more, by two-thirds, of the mother than of the son. Oh, poor me! My welcome, as I said, was a damper. She kissed me heartily enough-too heartily-for she smelt horribly of snuff. She tasted of it, indeed; and if I could believe that any woman ever put powdered tobacco in her mouth, instead of in the proper place-if the nose even is that proper place-she is that person. She turned me round and round, and looked me all over with the most wonderful nonchalance. She wondered whether my eyes were black or dark hazel, suggested caps as part of the toilet of the mother of ten children, and desired to know my Christian name, as she intended to be very kind and very motherly. "Besides," she said, "I am Mrs. Perkins, and one Mrs. Perkins is enough in a house." Perkins winced a little at this, for it was not the first time that she had told him so. When I answered that my name was Patience, she said-" Patience! Humph! You are well named, for you will have a time of it. But la, dear, we must be cheerful, and begin with a cup of tea." And such a pleasant look as she put on, to second her invitation ! Her face is the habitual incarnation of lamentations; and when she attempts a smile, her features are so unused to it that it seems more like a twist of pain than an expression of pleasure. "You will have a time of it," she repeated for my encouragement, as she placed me at the head of the table, behind a wilderness of cups and saucers, and other tea and toast paraphernalia. "There's no company to-night, Patience; just ourselves!" She watched with a hope for contre-temps as I proceeded to tea-and-toast the little multitude, but I survived it. I have learned since that, with malice prepense, she trusted to disgust, and force me to surrender to her at discretion. The next morning, at breakfast, she hoped to reap the fruits of her manoeuvre. "Well, Patience," she said, "will you sit at the waiter, or shall I?" (with a motion toward that coveted post-a dignity, perhaps, but no sinecure). "Now, or never," thought I, and slipped into the seat, with a determination to assert my prerogative once for all. 66 kins's cup, Well, then, I must tell you," says motherin-law, 66 Mr. Perkins does not take much cream, Tim don't take sugar, James don't take cream, Will don't take either, Tom has milk and water, Sally has milk, Jane drinks water, John mustn't have coffee, and you are not to give Ruth any butter, Susy has milk and water, sweetened, and Lizzie mustn't have hot bread." Well," said I, having despatched Mr. Per"what does grandmother take?" You should have seen her eyes! There were the scintillations of fourteen furies in them. "Who? Oh, yes, I understand. I-oh, never mind me! I'm nobody!" And then she sobbed and sniffled, and Mr. Perkins was in an unwonted state of excitement, and the children exchanged winks and smiles, and I-sat still. If a woman with ten grandchildren in one lot, to say nothing of their probable cousins, is not entitled to the honoured name of grandmother, pray who is? So breakfast passed. Mother-in-law recovered her serenity before the meal was over. Husband-dear me, what a word that is for me to write!--husband went about his business, and mother-in-law undertook to invest me with the power of the keys, enlivening our progress through the establishment with some very interesting remarks. "Mr. Perkins is a very fine man, my dear, though I am his mother who says it a very fine inan; but he has a dreadful temper, and you must not let him get set against you. Ile is very easy to please; but you must be particular to get up his shirts carefully, for he will storm like an earthquake at a missing button. He is not at all difficult about his table; but things must be served upright; or he will not eat them. I'm his mother, and am used to his ways. He is very neat and careful; but he never puts anything away, and will keep a person picking up after him all the time; and he wants everything he calls for brought to him just to a minute. He is not at all hard to please when one knows him, only it takes all your thoughts to do it; but I'm used to that." This was a pleasant introduction, certainly, to my marital duties. "Then there's the chil dren," she continued-" a nice family as one need desire. But the oldest, that's Timothy, has picked up some bad habits. He will swear dreadfully; but he's a good boy, for all that. And James, that's the second son, is a fine lad, and willing; but you must not expose him to temptation by leaving loose money about. Willy is a healthy and well-doing boy in the main, but he likes to creep into the store-room. As sure as he eats a handful of raisins, and he will do it when he can, he goes into convulsions. Tom is quiet, but dreadfully mischievous sometimes; and there's no harm in the girls, except that they quarrel, as all children will, and won't take care of their clothes--no children do. And John, he plagues them almost to death, and Mr. Perkins has no government over any of them, and you'll have to do it all, my dear; but you must not be discouraged. I'm here, and if they don't mind, just turn them over to me!" Do you wish to know what I did? Go marry yourself to a widower, ten children, and a mother-in-law; place yourself, a foreign substance, among three generations of cognates, and you'll find out. West, went to my room, threw myself on the I" jest naterally," as they say out bed, and cried. Tears won't provide a dinner, I know, and I knew it then; but I did not imagine that any one expected that I should fall at once into providing for the household-I, a stranger, and in a strange place-oh, how strange! don't know how long I lay there in my halfsleep, half-sob. Presently I heard "Mother!" screamed in childish treble-"Mother!" growled in the hobbledehoy accent--" Mother" whined "Mother!" shouted "Mother!" piped"Mother! Mother!! Mother!!!" "Who is that wretch of a mother?" I said, angrily, as I bounced from the bed to the glass, and then laved away the traces of my tears. "Who is the wretch, and why don't she answer?" I did not dream that I could be meant. "What is the matter?" I asked, opening the door, and running out, to find seven or eight of the Perkins' young fry sitting on the stairs. "Who calls?"" "It's all of us," said the oldest, as spokesman for the whole. "Grandmother said we were to call you mother." "But she did not tell you to set up such a horrid concert, did she? If she did, I forbid it. Call me mother, and I'll try to be one; but when you are near enough for me to hear you never shout the word again, or call me at all speak in your natural voice. Come to me when you want me. Where is your grandmother?" "She went out, and said she would not be in till dinner; and there's no dinner getting ready, and nothing to eat, and we're all hungry." "Go then and eat anything you can find." But everything is locked and up, the keys. Grandmother said so, before she went out." 66 Oh, she did, did she?" said I, laughing, and arms. and running down stairs over a score of legs Now I saw the conspiracy. The pantry was speedily unlocked, and the key has dren to discuss their lunch, I walked on to the not been in the door since. Leaving the chilkitchen. There sat a great lump of a cook, with her feet in the ashes, and her face turned to me with an expression which said, “Now for a battle!" "Where's your fire," said I," and what's for dinner?" "Sure yourself, that's the new musthress, must tell me what. The ould musthress tould me I was to do nothing till you directed.” "Did she? And why did you not come to me hours ago?" 66 "Sure, I was tould to wait till you bid me." movables and leave the house. Call in the Well, then, I do bid you. Pick up your evening, and Mr. Perkins's mother will pay you your wages." The girl stared, as if doubting her senses. "Come! move! You are in my |