302 The Scottish Naturalist, 



stitch, they [the inhabitants of Jura] take a quantity of lady- 

 wrack and red fog and boil them in water; the patients sit 

 upon the vessel and receive the fume, which by experience they 

 find effectual against the distemper." — Martin's 'Western 

 Isles.' 



F. nodosus — Knobbed sea-weed. Gaelic: feamainn bholgainn, 

 builgach, — bolg, builg, a sack, a bag, from the vesicles that serve 

 to buoy up the plant amidst the waves. Feamuinn buidhe, the 

 yellow wrack. It is of an olive-green colour; the receptacles are 

 yellow. 



F. serratus— Serrated sea-weed. Gaelic: feamainn di/bli, black 

 wrack. Aon chasach, one-stemmed, applies to this plant when 

 single in growth. 



F. canaliculars — Channelled fucus. Gaelic : feamainn chir- 

 ean (clr, a comb). This plant is a favourite food for cattle, 

 and farmers give it to counteract the injurious effects of sapless 

 food, such as old straw and hay. 



Laminaria digitata — Sea-girdles, tangle. Gaelic and Irish : 

 stamh, s/at-mhara, sea-wand. Dnidhean, the stem, and liagkag 

 or leathagan, barr-stamh, and bragair, names given to the broad 

 leaves on the top. Do/re (in Skye), tangle. Though not so much 

 used for food as formerly, it is still chewed by the Highlanders 

 when tobacco becomes scarce. It was thought to be an effectual 

 remedy against scorbutic and glandular diseases, even long before 

 it was known to contain iodine. "A rod about four, six, or eight 

 feet long, having at the end a blade slit into seven or eight 

 pieces, and about a foot and a half long. I had an account of 

 a young man who lost his appetite and had taken pills to no 

 purpose, and being advised to boil the blade of the Alga, and 

 drink the infusion boiled with butter, was restored to his former 

 state of health" — Martin's 'Western Isles.' By far the most 

 important use to which this plant and the other fuci have been 

 put was the formation of kelp ; much employment and profit 

 were derived from its manufacture : e.g., in iSi2,in the island of 

 North Uist, the clear profits from the proceeds of kelp amounted 

 to ;£i 4,000; but the alteration of the law regarding the duty 

 on barilla reduced the value to almost a profitless remuneration 



of only £35°°- 



L. saccharina— Sweet tangle, sea-belt. Gaelic : smeartan 

 (smear, greasy). The Rev. Mr M'Phail gives this name to "one 

 of the red sea-weeds." Other correspondents give it to this 

 plant. 



