230 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. [Proc. 3D Ser. 



V. Economic Uses. 



It is generally known that in Europe certain seaweeds are 

 used as food and even sold in the markets, under the name 

 of "laver." One of these seaweeds is a species of Por- 

 phyra (P. laciniata). Kjellman (1897) devotes a part of his 

 paper to a highly interesting account of the use of Porphyra 

 species in Japan. From this it was learned that not only are 

 the plants collected, but they are even cultivated, and after 

 harvesting are carefully cleaned and prepared for market. 



This led the writer to start on a voyage of discovery 

 through Chinatown, San Francisco, to find out, if possible, 

 whether the Chinese also use the species of Porfhyra which 

 occur in such abundance on our coast. It was found that 

 formerly the Chinese used to depend altogether on Porfhyi'a 

 imported from Japan, but that now P. -perforata and P. 

 nereocystis are gathered in large quantities, especially at 

 Monterey, and are partly consumed here and partly exported 

 to China. The Chinese understand that there is some dif- 

 ference between the two species, having different names for 

 them, and seemingly esteeming P. nereocystis more highly 

 than P. perforata, at least the latter costs only about one- 

 fifth the price of the former. Perhaps the distinction is 

 identical with the distinction made by the Chinese between 

 the plants collected from rocks and plants collected from 

 Nereocystis. 



Othes species of Porphyra, as yet undetermined, are sold 

 in Chinatown in flat, round, purple-colored cakes, about one 

 foot in diameter and from one-half to one-fourth of an inch 

 thick. They are exported from Japan for Chinese use. 

 This product forms a sharp contrast with "Asakusa Nori," 

 also made of Porphyra sp. and exclusively used by Japan- 

 ese. This is sold in bundles of ten sheets each, each sheet 

 being about eight inches square, exceedingly thin, and light 

 brown in color. While the latter are scrupulously clean 

 and freed from all foreign algse and animal matter, the 

 product used by the Chinese contains other algae as well as 

 numerous molluscs. 



