THE QUARTERLY 



JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 



JULY, 1869. 



. I. THE SEA- WEEDS OF YAR-CONN AUGHT, AND 

 THEIR USES. 



By G. H. KiNAHAN, M.R.I. A., F.R.G.S.I., &c., &c., of the 

 Geological Survey of Ireland. 



On the west of Lough Cor rib, the second largest sheet of fresh 

 water in Ireland, forming the north-western part of the Co. Galway, 

 lies the district called Yar or West Connau2,ht. The western 

 portion of this tract, included in the Barony of Ballinahinch, is 

 called Connemara ; however, now-a-days tourists seem to have given 

 the latter title to the whole of Yar-Connaught, although the natives 

 still retain the ancient names. 



Yar-Connaught lies on the Atlantic Ocean, being on the west 

 and south-west indented by numerous fiords, bays, and cooses, and 

 along its sea-board the fuci vegetate luxuriantly. 



The sea- weeds are used for manufacturing into kelp, also as 

 manure for the land, and are locally divided into three classes, 

 which have received as names — 1st, Bed weeds, or the iodine ])ro- 

 ducing plants that grow below the low-water mark of neap tides ; 

 2nd, Reesliagh, or the non-iodine producing weeds that grow in 

 similar situations ; and 3rd, the Black weeds, growing on the rocks 

 between high and low water.* 



The first, in the order of importance as sources of iodien, are 

 " Laminaria digitata vera," " L. digitata stenophylla," " L. saccha- 

 rina," " L. phyllitis," and " Alaria esculenta." The Black weeds 



* To John Steven, Esq., of Mullagliinore, the re]iresentHtive of William 

 Patterson, Esq., of Glasgow, I am indebted for the classification of the fuci, and 

 also for many of the statistics in this paper. 



VOL. VI. 2 A 



