FLUSTRA. 347 



and beauty, I have not, among all the plants or vegetables 

 I have yet observed, seen any one comparable to this sea- 

 weed." And yet our Newhaven fishermen speak of this 

 and many other zoophytes as sea-caff, *. e. sea-chaff, either 

 as worthless, or as easily, when dry, driven about by the 

 wind. Nevertheless it is, to those who attentively consider 

 it, an admirable piece of workmanship, as Eay and other 

 intelligent naturalists say, vying in its texture with a web 

 of silk or of fine linen. Its name is from a Saxon word, 

 fiustnan, to weave ; and He alone who gathered together the 

 waters of the sea could teach these marine manufacturers 

 to construct amidst its waves such elegant tabernacles. 



2. FLUSTRA CHARTACEA, Paper Sea-Mat. 



Hab. Coast of Sussex, Ellis; Brighton, Lister; Ply- 

 mouth, Eev. T. Hincks; Dublin Bay, Professor Allman; 

 south of Ireland, Mr. W. Thompson. So far as I know, 

 this has never been found in Scotland, but I have it from 

 Mr. Tumanowicz, Mr. Wigham, and Miss S. Beever, from 

 Hastings, where it seems to abound ; also from Mr. Pike, 

 from Brighton. 



The cells are an oblong figure, the apertures protected 

 by a helmet-like operculum. It is of smaller size and of 

 more delicate texture than the preceding ; of a light straw- 



