116 BRITISH SEA-WEEDS. []\IeIanos2:iermece. 



Family II. LAMIXAEIE^. 



" The water is calm and still below, 

 For the winds and waves are absent there. 

 And the sands are bright as the stars, that glow 

 In the motionless fields of upper air; 

 There, with its waving blade of green. 

 The sea-flag streams through the silent water. 

 And the crimson leaf of the Dulse is seen 

 To blush like a banner bathed in slaughter." — Percival. 



Genus YII. ALAEIA, Greville. 



Generic Character. Frond membranaceous, furnislicd Avith a 

 percurrent cartilaginous midrib, the stem pinnated with distinct 

 leaflets. Fructification, pyriform seeds, vertically arranged in the 

 incrassated leaflets. — Greville. 



1. Alaeia ESCULENTA, Grev. Eatable Tucus. (PL I. fig.4.) 

 Hab. Rocky coasts^ in deep water, frequent. Annual. 

 Winter and spring. 



The name given to it by Dr. Greville is from Ala^ a wing, 

 from the winged base of the frond. In Scotland, in the 

 Lowlands, -it is by some called badder-locks, and hen-ware, 

 which may be a contraction of honey-ware, the name given 

 to it in the Orkney Islands. In some parts of Ireland, 

 Dr. Drummond says that it is called murlins. The portion 



