A i >:.r. 



118 



aad cover* the whole plant They then pack it in casks to keep it from 

 the air, and that preserve it ready to lw eaten, either in this state with 

 fiih and batter, or, according to the prmotioeof wealthier tables, boiled 

 in milk, and raised with a little flour of rye. The cattle are also very 

 ' thU Ma-weed, and sheep are aaid to aeek it with such avidity 

 as often to be lost, by going too far from the land at low-water. 

 (' Quart. Rer.,' ril 68.) From thin latter circumstanoe it WM called 

 fitctu ruj, or Sheep DU!M. lu Kamtchatka it i* used for makinga 

 formanted beverage, which U easily produced on account of the great 

 quantity of sugar this plant contain*. 



AmongBtih* Rkadymmiacea U the gemin Qraritlaria, the ipecies 

 of which are al*o uwj a* food, and one of them, '/'. lieh'noula, U highly 

 rained in Ceylon and other parU of the But, and bean a great 

 resemblance to O. romprtua, a species of the British coast, and which 

 Dr. Grerille aayii u little inferior to the first, and has been used in thin 

 country both an a pickle and a preserve. The O. tenor, the Puctu 

 tauu of Turner, u invaluable to the Chinese as the basis of an excel- 

 lent glue and varnish. " Though a small plant," nays Dr. Oreville, 

 " the quantity annually imported at Canton from the province* of 

 Fokein and Tehikimi , u stated by Mr. Turner to be about 27,000 Iba. 

 It u Hold for 6d or 8cl. per pound, and is used for the purposes to 

 which we apply glue and gum arable. The Chinese employ it chiefly 

 in the manufacture of lanterns, to strengthen or varnixh the paper, and 

 sometimes to thicken or give a gloss to silks or gauze." Y 

 tainks it probable that the gummy matter called chin-chou, or hai-tsai, 

 in China and Japin, may be composed of this substance. Windows 

 in uli- of slips of bamboo, and crossed diagonally, have frequently their 

 interstices wholly tilled with the transparent glue of hai-taai. 



A celebrated vermifuge on the Continent is prepared from the 

 If i;iinth'Kurtun, a genus which grow* in the Mediterranean, and goes 

 by the mine of the Coralline of Corsica. It hius also been recommended 

 ax a remedy in cancer, but is seldom used in this country. 



The Ploramim, or Hair-Flag ( Itilen-rinttif), is one of the most elegant 

 plante of this section. It was formerly used much in the construction 

 of artificial landscapes on paper, and its collection and preparation 

 give employment to many of the poor on our coasts. 



The order Cerantiaceif contains six genera, one of which in the 

 tirift'litii. a plant named after Mrs. Griffith*, who has done much to 

 advance the knowledge of the order Alga in Great Britain. The 

 most extensive genera in thin tribe are Calathamnion and Polyiiphonia. 

 Mont of tile species belonging to these two genera are natives of the 

 BM, and are found attached to rocks, and to shells, stones, and 

 corallines which are thrown up by the waves. Many of them are also 

 i-iiM.jitie upon the larger sea-alga;, as the various species of 

 Frtu and other*. 



The Chlonupermfte include the orders Sipkonacaz, Confervaceee, 

 Ulracttr, OtciUaloriaeea, Noftocof". imd 1'almdlaca*. 



The order Siphmutceir consists of plants which are found in the sea, 

 in fresh water, or on damp ground, of an herbaceous green colour. 

 The frond is either composed of membranaceous, filiform, continu-ms, 

 simple, or branched tubes, or formed of a combination of similar 

 tubes, forming a spongy or crustaceous, globular, cylindrical, or flat 

 body ; the reproductive organs are vesicles produced on the outer 

 surface of the tubes, filled with a dark green granular mass. This 

 tribe contains four genera : (Wiiim. Brynptu, Vauclnria, and 

 Jio'rydiitm. The most interesting genus is Vauehrria, on account 

 of the remarkable observation* that have been made upon its repro- 

 ductive granules by linger and othor botanists. [VADCHKKIA.] 



- i I'u rue, is a hollow, sub-globose, dark green plant, 

 composed of an interwoven mass of tubular continuous filaments, the 

 reproductive vesicles being attached to the filaments near the surface 

 of the frond. There are two British species found on submarine 

 rocks, firyopnt has two British species, which arc alao m-irinc plants. 

 The frond is inembranaceous, filiform, tubular, cylindrical. li 

 branched; the branches are imbricated, or distich m- and pinnated, 

 and filled with a fluid containing minute granules. Their uiimeroin 

 branches give them the appearance of feathered mosses hon< 

 name. BVryrfiui(from Birpui), a Urapi- Hunch, i.- n'!im more than 

 a sph 'd-ir receptacle, filled with a watery flui'l it. op,-n< 



at the apex, and has, dexcendm.; from tlir I,,IV.T pan. :i bunch of 

 d fibr.w. In structure tlii* plant row-mbl -s <'>! iu, but it is 

 ni'ii'h i receptacle not being biatgor thin a rr.iin of mustard, 



and it irrow< up ,n kfea gronnd in OttJ iranules 



are r.. v tluil within the plant, and when the 



weather i dry, the upp;-r part of the receptacle collapses, giving the 

 pi in* a rtip-nliipa. 



Th. are for the most part green plant*, but sometimes 



pink or brown. Th* fructification consists of a granular, coloured 

 in'-'nril m i<*, which assumes vari 



The genus <!<>i\frrra, although Rtill containing numerous species, 

 has be*n n -d by the formation of new (fenera. It has 



r *til! an indefinite character, on Account of the eomp-u 



vhich the n .in Uitanists. 



are articulated, : .iiil'urm, itim 



!!. Fruit i'), an internal, coloure<l, granular mass (endo- 



clirome). Colour green, rarely purple or orange." The species of 



rr are found wherever there is water. In running streams 



they atticb themselves to the stones at the bottom, and are so 



abundant frequently in ctagnant ponds and pool* as to conceal 

 everything clue. Home few of them are )< m-i in sea-water, and 

 some on dry land. Some of the species have been found developing 



culiar forms under the influence of the ingredient, ol'.l.r 

 mineral-springs ; and one, the Cunfrrra Ourmala, is only found in ther- 

 mal springs. Under favourable circumstances they sometimes go on 

 developing to an immense extent in lakes or pond* in which they 

 gr jw. They are generally at first green, but as they ascend to the 

 surface of the water, and are exposed to the air, they become w i 

 The rapidity of the growth of these plant* is sometimes very 

 extraordinary, and lakes, and even the ocean itself, are covered for 

 several miles with floating masses of Con/ervae several inches in depth. 

 Of the various species of 6'oa/rrtvr, the C. fracta, the ' 

 and C. rim/uru are most abundant in this country. These plante are 

 frequently called Crow-Silks, and in some parts of the country, when 

 dried, they have been used for the purpose of stuffing beds, alao a* 

 wadding for stuffing garments. Dr. Lightfoot says he has seen at 

 Kdinlnirgh a kind of paper mwufactured from the fibres 

 frafta. C. tfgagropUa, Globe Crow-Silk, or Moor-Ball, is found with 

 its' filaments rolled up into the form of a ball, so that it I 

 appearance of the balls of hair occasionally found in the stoma 

 animals. It is an inhabitant of lakes, but is rarely found. It 

 fixed to anything, but floats about at the mercy of the waves. The 

 balls vary in diameter from half an inch to four inches. 



The genus H ydrodictyon has filaments which form a network with 

 regular polygonal meshes, and viviparous articulations. There is but 

 one species, the //. u'rimlatuM, Common Water-Net, which in a rare 

 plant, an 1 found only in ditches and pool* in the middle and southern 

 parts of England. It is a beautiful plant, forming tulmlar net, 

 which floats freely in the water. The meshes of the net-work are 

 pentagonal or hexagonal, and vary in diameter from half a line to 

 half an inch, and the filaments from thu width of a human hair to 

 that of the coarsest hog's-briatle. 



The genus 3foug-o!ia, named after J. B. Mougeot, a German 

 botanist, has articulated simple filament*, which are finally united by 

 transverse tubes. The endochrome is granular, at length forming 

 roundish globules at the point of conjugation. Thi* is one 

 genera of confervoid plants who , filaments are said to unite 1 

 reproduction takes place. That this conjugation does take place 

 pr-vious to their granules possessing any reproductive power, in 

 many of the species, there can be no doubt. But there are many 

 species of Canfemr which belong to the conjugate group of genera, 

 in which the phenomenon of conjugation does not take place pr< 

 to reproduction. These exceptions occur more particularly in the 

 genufi Zyynema. [XviiXKMA.] Several species of Muvytotia arc found 

 in Great Britain ; the moat common U the M. gtnvfaxa, which is 

 abundant in pools and ditches, sometimes covering a space 30 or 40 

 feet in diameter, and being of a yellowish-green or dull yellow colour. 

 The filaments are exceedingly fragile. 



The genus Tyndaridea has simple filamenta, inosculating by 

 r*e tubes. The endochrome is in two roundish masses, which 

 after conjugation unite to form a single L'lolmle. The species are 

 found in ponds and ditches, mostly commencing their existence at 

 the bottom of the water, ami after a little time rising to the surface, 

 where they form masses varying in size, of a yellowish and yellon i-U 

 green colour. 



The i'lnicetf include plants which are found in the sea, in fresh- 

 water, or on the damp ground : they are generally of an herbaceous 

 green or fine purple colour, and have a thin, tender, membrauaceous, 



ited structure, rarely gelatinous ; they are gem-rally fun 

 with a very minute scutate root, which is either expanded or tulmlar 

 and continuous; the reproductive organs consist of roundish, i 

 quaternate granules, or minute opercular grains, which are mil 

 in the delicate membrane of the plant. This order contains al.,it. 

 ten genera, of which the five following are British :- /'U////IVAI. 



.luirfih't, and liangia. 



'.//"< (from Tojxpupwj), the I'urple Laver, has a plain frond. 

 exceedingly thin, and of a purple colour. The reproductive organs 

 are of two kinds: 1, Roundish granules arranged in four 

 imbedded in the whole substance of the frond ; 2, Masses of smaller 

 ovate granules, which are scattered without order. ehie:ly tow.r 



i of the frond. Four species of the Purple l.uver are eniiinti- 

 The most common is t ! l'f,,-/,lii/rn /H.-I'HKIM. which has its 



.i'id deeply cleft, thu stigmen' 



cut and waved. This plant is c immoii in the sea fro 

 autumn, and grows on rocks and stones, whence it is .)> M t <m l>y 

 t he \ iolunce of the waves, and thrown on the shore. The frond ..i tins 

 plant abounds in a viscid gel:i '!. wMi-h is said to I 



nutritious. On this account this plant, und-T the name of I. . 

 much eaten in miny places, imperially tin- south of Kn^land. When 

 collected, it is kept in jars with salt, and when brought to th 

 is served up with lemon-juice. Dr. Light foot states th it in tin- 

 Western Isles it is gathered in the month of M an-h. and that. \\1,. n 

 poutido I and macerated with a little water, the inhabitant* eat i 

 ]M-|ip,-r. vineg.ir, and butter. It i- 



I'.ut although thi.t plant is abundant enough, it is oul.. 

 partially used as an artiel- of ,li.-i 



L'lra the Green Laver, has a uiembnuiacoous frond of a green colour 



