2-i(J BRITISH SEA-WEEDS. [Rhodospermea. 



t 



Very rare. Annual. Summer. Discovered by Mrs. Griffiths 

 at Sidmoutli. Pound also by Miss Cutler in the south of 

 England, and lately by Mrs. Gulson, at Exmouth ; and by 

 Miss Turner, Jersey. 



Substance when fresli, very tender, and succulent and 

 brittle, becoming tough when dried; colour, dull red, be- 

 coming brighter when steeped in fresh water. In form, it 

 very much resembles Gracilaria lichenoides, bleached speci- 

 mens of which I have from my friend Mr. Gourlie. Having 

 lost their colour, they make no show in the herbarium, but 

 tliey appear very well on the table in the shape of llanc- 

 mange, which is of a brownish-red colour. Mrs. Griffiths 

 got some of our native G. conipressa prepared for the table, 

 and it answered as well as the foreign one ; but it is too 

 rare to be so employed, except by way of experiment. 



Since writing the above, I resolved, with the remainder 

 of Mr. Gourlie's Agal-Agal, or G. lichenoides, to try if it 

 would, by i)utting it -on gauze, form a l^nii^vn a la 7node 

 de Chine. The experiment was quite successful. I have 

 also within these few days seen an edible swallow^s nest, 

 which had every appearance of being formed of mashed 

 Agal-Agal. The form is oval, joined to the rock at one of 

 the ends, truncated for that purpose, and very like a recep- 



