298 MEADFOOT AND THE STAEFISH. 



eaten by the poor people on the northern coasts both 

 of Scotland and Ireland, was abundant, forming fine 

 masses of broad, somewhat leathery, smooth leaves, 

 irregularly cut and split, of rich deep-red. The 

 Cliondrus crispus, which, when dried and bleached, 

 is sold in chemists' shops, under the name of " Car- 

 rageen Moss/' was also numerous, growing in stiff, 

 divaricating tufts of a deep purple-brown hue, each 

 narrow, strap-like leaf terminated by tips of the most 

 glowing, steel-blue lustre while under water ; a 

 beauty which, however, utterly vanishes as soon as 

 you remove it from its submersion. Along the edges 

 of the narrower fissures, between the -stone blocks, 

 grew soft, plumose tufts of the Winged Delesseria, a 

 plant of very lovely colour, belonging to a genus, 

 every species of which is beautiful. It consists of 

 very narrow leaves, each composed of a mid-rib, 

 and a slender wing of membrane bordering it on 

 each side ; each is very much divided in the same 

 plane, and thus the whole constitutes a thick, bushy 

 tuft of a few inches in height. Viewed in the water, 

 its hue is a dark brownish-red ; but when looked at 

 with the light behind, as in a glass of sea-water, the 

 leaves are of a rich, light carmine. And far down in 

 these crevices, deep under water, I could discern the 

 large, sinuated broad leaves of the most splendid of 

 our native Algae, the Sanguine Delesseria. This is a 

 far finer species than the other, though formed on the 

 same model ; a well-grown leaf is sometimes eight 

 inches in length, and nearly three inches in breadth, 



