Warmiug, the 12th diapter of whifh deals with tlie »sea grasses« (pp. 183 — 19<S); 

 in this the life-liistory, structure and distribution of the grass-wrack are discussed 

 thoroughly. 



Of important sources of information from tlie purely botanical side concer- 

 ning our plant mav be mentioned: C. Raunkiær's work »De danske Blomster- 

 planters Naturhistorie«, Vol. I, (1895 — 99), in which the structure of the eel- 

 grass is described (pp. 120 — 125) and the paper by Cli. Flahault on Zostera in 

 O. Kirchner, E. Loew and C. Schroeter: Lebensgeschichte der Bliiten- 

 pflanzen Mitteleuropas, Bd. I, Lief. 6, (1906, pp. 516—529). All these 

 papers contain a cojjious literature to which I mav refer any one desirous of 

 further information respectiug the natural history of the eel-grass. 



Lastly, I would draw attention to a small interesting pamphlet cailed 

 (translated into Euglish): The use of Grass-wrack for stuffing pillows and 

 mattresses and its proper treatment for such purposes as a substitute 

 for horse-hair, writteu by M. C. G. Lehmann (Kjøbenhavu 1812) and to an 

 enlarged German edition a few years later (1814) entitled: »Der eutdeckte 

 Nutzen des Seegrases zum Fiillen der Kussen und Polster«, von Dr. 

 M. C. G. Lehmann (Kopenhagen bei Schubothe). The author recommends the 

 use of the dried leaves of the eel-grass for stuffing mattresses and the like. He 

 concludes the German edition by saying that the eel-grass »gewahrt ein Lager, 

 weicher als Heu, gesunder als Federn, daueruder als Stroh, wohlfeiler als sie alle.« 

 It is also novv-a-days a well-known faet tiiat the leaves of the eel-grass are exteus- 

 sively used in this way, and Dr. Lehmann is evidently of opinion that he has had 

 the honour of discovering this use. In reference to this, I may mention that most 

 of the roofs of the houses on Læsø are still thatched with dried eel-grass instead 

 of straw and that elsewhere in our country the same material is also made use of 

 to make the ridges of the roofs watertight. 



Eel-grass mav also be used as manure, raostly perhaps on account of the 

 substauces eutangled in it (sea-algæ, dead mohuscs, snails etc.),' as the leaves them- 

 selves have an unusual power of resistance against crumbling. 



It is however the importance of the grass-wrack to the sea and its fauna 

 and not to the land that we shall deal with liere. 



Botanisk Museum, Køhenhaim, March 1907. 



