284 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



annually, after they are exhausted in reproduction ; and before the 

 old ones are detached a new set of from 20 to 30 are growing just 

 a step higher up on the stipe. Now, assuming that the number of 

 sporophylis remains equal, the small scars of the older ones are left as 

 p)rominent marks on the stipe, and by this means the age of the plant 

 may be approximately ascertained. Specimens \vith no sporophylis 

 are of the hrst year's growth, while those without pit-scars are of the 

 second year ; the latter I have found 8 ft. in lengtli. By counting 

 the scars one can safely reckon on individuals of six, eight, and even 

 ten years' growth. This plant is cast on shore abundantly in spring 

 and early summer ; few figures do justice to the beauty of the full- 

 grown plant. The first illustration by Lightfoot, Flora Scot. tab. 28 

 (1777), gives the best idea of its proportions ; that of English Botany, 

 tab. 1759 (1835) the best study of the old and young sporophylis 

 and the pit- scars of older years ; but the lamina is trivial A fine 

 frond 20 ft. long, and 10 inches broad at the widest part, is the tines^j 

 seaweed lamina of these latitudes. 



IV. Saccorhiza bulbosa De la Pylaie is beyond question the 

 most remarkable of indigenous Laminarias, and is also a unique mono- 

 type of the North Atlantic seaboard. During the winter months 

 many half-grown plants come ashore Avith the full round " bulb " 

 attached. The broad stipe can then be seen at the different stages of 

 growth ; in some the frill or " furbelow " is seen in its various initial 

 stages — smooth, slightly wavy, and half developed. In late spring 

 and summer the bulb is so firmly fixed by many haptera which have 

 developed on the under side, inside the bulb edge, and at the end of 

 the stipe, that unless the stone to which it is attached comes too, it 

 breaks off at the junction of bulb and stipe, at the point marked by 

 the extra spiral twist. The great plant is thus washed up with its 

 furbelow, but without the bulb ; and as the end of the stipe may 

 bring some haptera with it, one wonders if it is the same plant with 

 huge furbelow, up to 3 inches deep, and in as many as 30 waves, but 

 no bulb. Fine plants with fronds spread over 6 ft. each way, give an 

 impression wholly different from any published figures of this plant, 

 the uncouth appearance of many drawings and herbarium specimens 

 being due to the fact that they represent depauperated, immature 

 and small specimens. The plant is not so much annual as mono- 

 carpic, and fine plants continuing over the 'spring may be in full 

 reproduction in the end of the summer (September, of the second season) 

 though the laminae may be much worn. Examination of such old 

 plants in the reproductive condition has led to the curious misstate- 

 ment (Kjellman, 1893) that the cuticle is not continuous over the 

 ])araphyses, but that the latter are wholly free from each other. 

 As a matter of fact, the cuticle in Saccorhiza strips as well as in any 

 other Laminaria ; but once stripped, of course it is not again seen. 



V. Laminaria saccharina L., a very common plant onthe Orcadian 

 coast, also attains a maturity far beyond that observed in the English 

 Channel, and a fine plant ten feet long, with broad fully-frilled and 

 " bullated " lamina, 10 inches wide, is one of the most handsome of 



