230 SLU LE 



alors pour ainsi dire la lisiere d'une petite forot se prolon- 

 geant au loin sous la mer et fonnee de frondes floltant 



ly; colour very dark brown or black — rarely hurt by any parasi- 

 tical plant; the top is considerably (Jattened some time before it 

 expands intp the frond, and the lower end tastes sweet, and is 

 mucli eaten by some people. 



Frond. — The frond of the cuvy is thicker, shorter, and the 

 segments more numerous and clustered, than in the tangle. That 

 of the cuvy swells into blisters by steeping in fresh water, while 

 the frond of the tangle bleaches white-, but the great distinction in 

 this part, and the one which makes this plant so valuable, is that 

 the cuvy annually throws off the old leaf, and acquires a new one, 

 while this has been never observed in the tangle. 



When the cuvy is examined in situ immediately before throwing 

 off the leaf in the month of March, each will be found to have the 

 segments of the new leaf still connected at the top, being held 

 together by the base of the old leaf, which has in this state been 

 described as « a new sessile frond » springing from the connected 

 segments, while it is nothing but the old leaf in the process of being 

 pushed off by the new, — a thing which occurs every year. 



It will be better understood from an examination of specimens, 

 than from description, how the new leaf first springs from the top 

 of the stipes— pushing the old leaf before it; then divides into 

 segments, each of which is in turn torn from the base of the old 

 leaf, beginning at the margin, till at last the old leaf hangs by a 

 single central segment, from wich it is easily separated by the first 

 storm that raises the sea, when it is thrown on shore, sometimes 

 in immense quantities. These old leaves are what are used for 

 manure and kelp, and in Orkney are known under the name of 

 ware or drift-weed. 



The silualions in which the two plants grow are also very diflfe- 

 rent : the cuvy growing so far out in the sea, that the highest limit 

 can only be approached at the lowest stream tides, and from this 

 it runs into the Ocean, as far as the eye can penetrate, and probably 

 much farther; while the tangle may be approached at ordinary tides, 

 and forms a belt between the cuvy and the beach. The general 

 aspect also differs. The stems of the cuvy stand up like a parcel of 

 slicks, and the leaves wave from them like little flags; "while the 



