14(5 SEAWEEDS. 



tough and leathery, and sometimes quite stony, with a 

 coat of lime. 



In search of any members of this group which the 

 waves might wash to our feet, we set off early one morn- 

 ing to walk from Brodick to Corrie, a fishing hamlet on 

 the shore, some three miles to the north. We passed 

 quickly by the red rocks in the Castle Bay, because we 

 had previously examined them ; and we did not begin 

 our search till we reached some similar rocks of red sand- 

 stone, midway to Corrie, where a vast congregation of 

 gulls seemed to be taking their morning meal ; and, at 

 the same time, discussing the affairs of the nation. They 

 took to the water at our approach, still uttering their 

 sharp cries as they rode indolently upon the white crested 

 waves. They had cause for annoyance, for the rocks 

 from whence we had scared them were covered with peri- 

 winkles, mussels, and other small shell fish ; and the 

 heaps of empty and broken shells showed that the gulls 

 were adepts at opening their own bivalves : they had no 

 need of an oyster knife. 



Amongst these rocks, also, we found a great quantity 

 of sea waste, covering the miniature plains as with a 

 thick carpet, and we could have filled our vasculum with 

 Sphacelaria, and Cladostephus. We did stow away some 

 pretty green weed for future examination; but we re- 

 jected the olive, and kept our attention for the red. 



Leafy fronds, not very unlike a Fucus, only bluntly 

 toothed at the margin, and of a dark red instead of olive 

 green, were there ; and we recognized in them specimens 

 of that essentially northern weed Odenthalia dentata 



