66 MARINE AND FISHERIES 



5 GEORGE v., A. 1915 



with iodine), and the feature markedly distinguishing the Laminaria from other 

 Sea-weeds is the secretion of a mucHage also probably of a carbohydrate nature O. 



It seems not unlikely that careful examination of these different iodine- 

 containing tissues may lead to the result that iodine is held in the living organism 

 in but one or two types of organic compound. I hope to extend the work in this 

 direction. 



I wish to acknowledge my grateful indebtedness to Dr. Maclean Fraser, the 

 Curator of the Nanaimo Biological Station, for his uniform kindness in assisting 

 me in the work of collection and identification of the material described in this 

 paper, to thank Mr. F. S. Collins for kindly identifying a number of algse for me, 

 and to thank Professors Swale Vincent and Buller for their interest and encourage- 

 ment in the course of this work. 



The expenses incurred in the collection and preservation of the material 

 were defrayed by grants from the Biological Board. The expenses of the analytical 

 work carried out at Manitoba University have been defrayed by grants through 

 the Ductless Glands Committee of the British Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, and (through Professor Vincent) from the Royal Society of London, 



Appendix. 



THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE PACIFIC KELPS. 



The value of kelps as fertilizers has been known tor a long time. In the 

 British Islands, Norway, and the coast of Brittany they are gathered more or 

 less extensively and spread as a manure. Along the Atlantic Coast of Canada 

 and the New England Coast they are stated to be fairly extensively used; the torn 

 kelp is thrown up on the shore in the Fall, and collection is rendered easy. They 

 have been occasionally used along the Pacific Coast of the United States for the 

 same purpose. In Japan they are extensively used for various purposes. 



The fertilizing value of kelps is attributable chiefly to their potash content, 

 and in some small part to their phos^phate content. They also contain 

 definite small quantities of iodine, although this probably does not increase 

 their value as manures. In view of the great cost of potash fertilizers 

 due to the increasing market and the monopoly held by the Stassfurt Syndicate, 

 other sources of potash have been sought. The most promising of these are the 

 giant kelp beds situated along the western coast of this continent. 



The U. S. Government, realising the importance of this problem, have, during 

 the past few years, charted out the kelp beds off their western coasts, including 

 Alaska, to which two expeditions were sent last year for that purpose. At least 

 two companies in California have started to extract potash from kelp, although 

 the industry has scarcely got beyond the experimental stage O. 



* Very little work appears to have been carried out to determine the form in which iodine 

 occurs in algae. Eschle {Zeitschr.f. physiol. Chem., 1S97, 23, 30) showed that in Fucus vesiculosus 

 and in Laminaria digitata the iodine was present almost completely in organic form, and con- 

 sidered that several different organic compoimds containing iodine were present. 



'J. Industrial Chemistry, 1913, 5, 251. 



