THE SEA-SHORE. 175 



in the arts. One species is invaluable to the 

 Chinese as a glue and varnish. Though a small 

 plant, the quantity annually imported at Canton 

 is stated to be about 29,000 Ibs. It is sold at 

 Canton for 6d. or 8d. per pound, and is used for 

 the purposes to which we apply glue, and gum- 

 arabic. The Chinese employ it chiefly in the ma- 

 nufacture of lanterns to strengthen or varnish the 

 paper, and sometimes to give a gloss to gauze or 

 silks."* 



Botanists have arranged and named all the dis- 

 covered species of Algae which grow in the sea, 

 in fresh water, and on land. Some of these, 

 however, are so minute, and others vary so 

 much at different seasons of the year, that I would 

 not recommend you to study them, until you have 

 acquired habits of accuracy in the examination of 

 specimens, by dissecting land plants. 



All the sea-weeds, properly so called, appear to 

 depend principally for their sustenance upon the 

 water in which they float. Many of them have no 

 perceptible roots, being merely fixed to the rocks 

 by the lower extremity of their stems ; some are 

 attached by a small disc, shaped like a button ; 

 while those, the stems of which are subdivided at 

 the base, in a manner somewhat resembling roots, 

 seem rather to require them as an additional secu- 

 rity against the violence of the waves, than to em- 

 ploy them as a means of subsistence. The large sea- 

 weeds, called " Tangles,"-)* or " Sea-girdles," afford 

 a remarkable example of such a root. The plant is 

 composed of a long cylindrical stem, about the size 

 of an ordinary walking-stick ; its upper extremity 



* Dr. Greville. t Laminaria digitata. 



