170 



HARUWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



little volume the "Synopsis of British Seaweeds," 

 and a Stanhope or Coddington lens, by means 

 of which he can examine portions of delicate plants 

 as he finds them, and compare them with the 

 descriptions given in the " Synopsis"; in this way, 

 if he have any success during his excursions, he 

 will quickly become familiar with most of the 

 plants which are cast ashore or grow within tide- 

 marks. 



Time will not admit of, neither is space in this 

 iournal available for, a single line beyond what may 

 be practically serviceable to my youthful readers ; 

 therefore I will hasten to describe the course 

 of action in seaweed-collecting as I have practised 

 it for mauy years. At once, then, to the shore, but 

 not to the sandy shore, for only useless decayed 

 rubbish, or here and there some straggling plants 

 of Zostera marina, or grass-wrack, will be met with 

 there. The collector must away to the rocks, and 

 search carefully every pool he meets with, from a 

 little distance below high-water mark, and so on 

 down to the water's edge, always remembering that 

 it is better to collect while the tide is receding than 

 as it is coming in. 



Presuming that few persons will think of collect- 

 ing seaweeds much earlier than the month of May, 

 let me observe that most of the accessible species 

 of olive and green plants which grow on rocky 

 shores and in tide-pools, will be found from May to 

 Juue in pretty fair condition, but very few red 

 plants, except those which grow on the shady sides 

 of rock-pools, or under the shelter [of the larger 

 oliv'e weeds, will be met with untU a considerable 

 space is laid bare by the receding water at the low 

 spring tides, about a day or two before and after the 

 full moon. 



As nearly all the rare red weeds grow in deep 

 water, they are seldom taken in any degree of per- 

 fection unless they are dredged ; but in the summer 

 months, say from June to the end of August, many 

 Hue plants are occasionally thrown up from deep 

 water, and others are found growing on the stems 

 of the great Oar-weeds, portions of which are cast 

 ashore, beautifully fringed with one or more species 

 of Delesseria and other rare Rhodosperms — in fact, 

 during the rising tide, diligent collectors may se- 

 cure many a lovely deep-water plant as it comes 

 floating in, but which, if allowed to remain long ex- 

 posed to the action of sunlight, will fade in colour 

 and decompose before it can be mounted. This is 

 especially the case with all the soft gelatinous red 

 plants, such as the Callithamnia, and all the Gloio- 

 cladia;, as well as a few of the softer olive weeds ; 

 and here I may observe that there is one genus of 

 beautiful olive plants, the Sporochnacece, which must 

 on no account be put into the vasculum with any of 

 the delicate red plants, for they not only very 

 rapidly decompose, but injure almost all others 

 with which they are placed in contact. The species 



are not numerous, and they may jbe easily recog- 

 nized, after having been previously studied from the 

 coloured figures either in Harvey's " Phycologia," 

 or in Bradbury & Evans's "Nature-printed Sea- 

 weeds." It is also a" curious fact respecting this 

 genus, that while they are all of a beautiful olive 

 tint in the growing state, they invariably change to 

 a fine verdigris-green in drying ; and indeed this is 

 very generally the case with the filamentous olive 

 weeds, the Euci, or common rock-weeds, as con- 

 stantly turning quite black after mounting : whence 

 the term, that of "Melanosperm," which is given 

 to the subdivision to which all the olive weeds 

 belong. 



As there are so few seaweeds which have gene- 

 rally known common names, I shall make no apology 

 for using the names by which they are knovni to 

 Science, presuming that all intending collectors 

 will, as I have already suggested, gain some know- 

 ledge of Terminology ere they go out "seaweeding." 



Beginners should be cautioned against the very 

 natural error of bringing home too mauy plants at a 

 time ; they must be moderate in their gatherings, 

 or be content to risk the loss of some choice speci- 

 mens, which will decompose unless they are attended 

 to before night. The first thing to be done upon 

 arriving at home, is to empty the collecting-bag 

 into a white basin of sea-water, and to select the 

 best and cleanest plants as soon as possible, giving 

 each a good swill before placing it in another vessel 

 of clean water, and getting rid of rejected plants at 

 once, so that the basin first used will be available 

 for rewashing the weeds before they are severally 

 placed in the mounting-dish. When a day is fixed 

 on for seaweeding, the collector should order a 

 large bucket of clean sea-water, which, after being 

 left to settle, should be strained through a towel, so 

 as to be as free as possible from sand and dirt. Two" 

 or three large pie-dishes will be necessary, the 

 deeper the better, and white, if such can be ob- 

 tained. Place these on a separate table with towels 

 under them, and reserve a table specially for the 

 mounting-dish and the parcels of papers, calicoes, 

 and blotting-papers. The large white bath used in 

 photography ^is very well adapted for mounting 

 seaweeds ; the lip at one coruer is convenient for 

 pouring off soiled water, and its form— that of an 

 oblong— is most suitable for receiving the papers on 

 which the plants are to be mounted.. Beside this 

 vessel should be placed the following implements :— 

 A porcupine-quill, two camel-hair pencils, one 

 small, the other large and flat, a pair of strong brass 

 forceps, a penknife, a pair of scissors, a small 

 sponge, an ivory paper-knife, and two thin plates of 

 perforated zinc, somewhat less in length and breadth 

 than the inside of the mounting-dish. 



Smooth drawing-paper, or fine white cartridge- 

 paper, is generally employed for mounting. The 

 operator should be provided with three different 



