THE SEA-SHORE. 177 



kinds of sea-weeds which are thrown on shore 

 during a storm, Tangles are the most abundant, 

 and for this reason (at least I know no other) : a 

 species of limpet (Patella Icevis) fixes itself on 

 the roots of the young plants, and feeds on their 

 substance. Like the common limpet, it never 

 changes its place of abode ; but, as it grows older, 

 enlarges its chamber, not only eating deeper into 

 the stem, but widening its cell on all sides. It 

 thus destroys the divisions of the root one after 

 another, till the plant is so weakened in its hold on 

 the rock, that the violent action of the water on its 

 tufted head tears it away, and carries it, with its 

 insidious but imprudent tenant, to the shore. I 

 will not go so far as to say, that all the Tangles 

 thrown ashore owe their destruction to these lim- 

 pets ; but, if you examine their roots within a 

 short time after they have quitted the water, you 

 will discover many which have been eaten away in 

 the manner described; and indeed, in numerous 

 instances, the shells, with their inhabitants yet 

 alive, adhering to them. The young plants of this 

 species are eaten in Scotland, and, within the last 

 twenty years, were sold in the streets of Edinburgh. 

 When cooked, the young stalks are not unplea- 

 sant ; and, in some places, cattle are fed upon this 

 plant, when it has been boiled. The stems are 

 sometimes made into knife-handles, which, after a 

 few months' exposure to the air, become hard and 

 shrivelled, and scarcely to be distinguished from 

 hartshorn. A stem with its appendage of leaves 

 is sometimes dried, and hung up by countrymen in 

 their cottages, and serves to indicate an approaching 

 change of weather, becoming damp and flaccid when 

 the atmosphere is highly charged with moisture, 



