Excerpt from The Characeæ of America, Vol. 1: Containing the Introduction, Morphology and ClassificationThese plants, often delicate or brittle from an incrustation of lime, are easily destroyed by waves, so that they are rarely found on ex posed shores, unless in water deep enough to be beyond the reach of the surface movements. They ¿ourish best in sheltered bays and smaller ponds, especially if a tolerably uniform level of water be maintained. Great changes of level are destructive, alike to species that love the sun and grow in shallower water and those that hide away in the depths. It is rare, therefore, that Chara hunting is profit able in ponds or lakes which feed canals or factories one prefers the land-locked sheets of water fed by springs, especially if there be a sandy bottom. Temperature has but little in¿uence upon them, though the South has its distinctive species, as well as the North. One species, at least, Ch. Fragilis, is universal, found in every coun try and clime, in ice water at the North and in the hot springs of the Yellowstone, hot enough to cook an egg in four minutes (see specimens in the Herbarium of Harvard College).The best condition of the plant for examination is when it has mature fruit. The time at which this occurs is usually late summer or early fall, though a few species mature early in the spring and die off in the summer. At the South the species are often in good condi tion the year round, the old fruit holding on even after new shoots have started from the old nodes.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.