Ficcea.] fucus. Ill 



This is very common also on all our shores. It is 

 perennial. The frond differs from the preceding by being 

 serrated. In Scotland it gets the name of black wrack, or 

 prickly tang : it is not so rich in kelp and iodine as the 

 others. It is useful as manure, however. In Norway it is 

 used as food for cattle, mixed with meal. The Dutch use 

 it to cover their crabs and lobsters to keep them alive and 

 moist, preferring it to any other, because it is destitute of 

 that mucus which causes them to ferment and putrefy. It 

 is a handsome species, the fronds on both sides being dotted 

 with pencil-like clusters of whitish capillary fibres, and the 

 fronds being often broad; Dr. Greville has seen them in 

 the Isle of Bute two inches and a half broad. 



Like the other Fucij it furnishes hiding-places for mol- 

 lusks and crustaceans. AYith certain zoophytes also it is a 

 favourite. The fronds are often partially covered with beau- 

 tiful lace-work produced by Flustra, now called Memhrani- 

 jjora inlosa, and generally in very finely stellated figures. 

 And still more frequently it is invested with Serttdaria 

 pumila, the Sea-oak Coralline. The richest specimens I ever 

 saw of Serttdaria ptiinila were on this Fucus at Leith, — the 

 fronds were quite shaggy with it, and completely covered. 



AYe may mention that both these zoophytes are very 



