26 RAMBLES AND REVERIES. 



Bladder-wrack are used for drying cheeses, thus 

 obviating the use of salt. These ashes contain about 

 half their weight in alkaline salt. Its bladders also 

 yield iodine, used largely for medicinal purposes. 

 F. serratus is largely used for packing lobsters, and 

 the channelled Fucus is eaten by cattle in the 

 north of Britain. 



The third order is called Laminar iace<z. The 

 frond is flat and without midrib, and there is a 

 kind of stalk. These grow below tide mark, but 

 they are plentifully cast up, and very large speci- 

 mens are dragged about by visitors to the sea- 

 side. Laminaria or Tangle is a good specimen 

 for the study of the sucker-like "roots" which 

 many algae possess. 



L. fascia, or the Papery Tangle, has a very short 

 thin stem, and widens out into a long broad frond ; 

 one of the large tangles is called the Oar-weed. 

 The Sweet Laminaria, or Sea-belt, makes a good 

 hygrometer when hung up and will foretell rain. 



The Dictyotacece include the Sea-endive, the 

 pretty Padina pavonia, called so from its resem- 

 blance to a peacock's tail, the Girdle-weed or 

 Zonaria, and Taonia or Peacock-weed, Dictyota 

 or Netted sea-weed, Stilophora or Nettle-bearer, 

 Punctaria and others. 



The other orders of olive weeds are Chordariaceae 

 and Ectocarpacea, which include several lovely 

 feathery plants. 



Rhodospermece or red seaweeds are the most 

 beautiful of all. Red is the prevailing colour, but 

 a few brown, purple, and orange-tinted species are 



