14 HANDBOOK OF SEA- WEEDS. 



escaped the notice of the sea-side visitor, for it is widely dis- 

 tributed and often thrown out in great abundance ; one writer 

 describes the shore near Tynemouth a~s having been red for 

 upwards of a mile with this superb sea-weed. Kalymenia 

 reniformis is another of the broad, flat Algoe, but it is scarcer, 

 and of a colour not so conspicuous. Among the most frequent 

 of our sea-weeds, both as growing in the rock pools and cast 

 ashore, is Chondrus crispus, already twice referred to in con- 

 nexion with its officinal uses. It is very variable in form, one 

 author figuring as many as thirty-six different varieties. (Fig. 6.) 

 Chylocladia clavellosa, which is sometimes cast ashore a fond 



Wormskioldia sanguinea 



and a half long, is closely set with branches, and these again 

 clothed with branchlets in one or two series. The whole plant 

 is fleshy, of a rose-red or brilliant pink colour, turning to golden 

 yellow in decay. There is another small species, confined to 

 the extreme north of Britain. Halymenia ligulata is another 

 flat red weed, but sometimes very narrow in its ramifications. 

 Furcellaria fastigiata has a round, branched, taper stem, swollen 

 at the summit, which contains the fruit, consisting of masses of 

 tetraspores in a pod-like receptacle. Schizymenia edulis, better 

 known perhaps by its old name Iridea, is a flat, inversely eg 

 shaped leaf with scarcely any stem, It is one of the edit 



