[6] 



a piece of Iboniwracft : 3t0 Jnbabitante 



ant) 6uc6t6. 



By Arthur S. Pennington_, F.L.S., F.R.M.S. 



Plates I and 2. 



JOHN ELLIS, the father of English Zoophytology, amongst 

 the other features which characterise his work, was careful 

 to give plain English names to the various objects described 

 by him. It is well for us to know that there is such a genus as 

 Flustra, and that it includes the species Foliacea^ Securifrons, 

 Carbasea, Papyracea^ and Barleei ; but to sit down on the sea- 

 shore and chat with a fisherman or a little child about Flustra 

 foliacea would not certainly be a very profitable task. Just as the 

 Church of England graciously permits anyone to use her prayers 

 privately in any language he understands, but enjoins the public 

 use of a language " understanded of the people," so Ellis, whilst 

 retaining for scientific men the generic and specific names known 

 to them, carefully provided popular names for ordinary use. 

 The aptness of these names we shall observe frequently in this 

 paper. 



Barren and forsaken indeed must be the coast upon which the 

 ebbing tide does not leave some bunches of Hornwrack. Growing 

 at varying depths in the sea in bunches of foliaceous expansions 

 or narrow ribbon-like segments, the various species of Hornwrack, 

 or Sea-mats as they are sometimes called, are ubiquitous. The 

 five species before named are found in Britain. The first, 

 Flustra foliacea^ grows, as its name implies, in leaf-like expansions, 

 and has each cell armed with two spines at each side of its upper 

 half F. sccurifrons is divided into narrow ribbon-like segments, 

 and has its cells oblong and without spines. F. papyracea grows 

 in small glistening tufts. All these species have cells on both sides 

 of the fronds. F. carbasea has large somewhat oval cells without 

 spines and growing in a single layer. The remaining species, 

 uP. Barleei^ has only been found in Shetland. 



