SEAWEEDS. 295 



The stem is short and cylindrical, and the blade of the frond 

 ranges from three to twenty feet in length, usually much torn 

 by the waves. There are a number of finger-like receptacles 

 given off by the stem, and in the outer coats of these are the 

 conceptacles bearing the spores. The plant is used as food 

 by the poorer classes resident on the shores where it is plen- 

 tiful, and is eaten raw, when it is said to be the best of our 

 esculent seaweeds; the parts preferred are the mid-rib and 

 the receptacles. " Badderlocks " is a corruption of Balder' s 

 locks, the split fronds being likened to the locks of the Scan- 

 dinavian hero Balder, to whom all plants except mistletoe 

 swore fealty. 



To this class also belongs the slender and very extensive Sea 

 Lace (Chorda filum), which consists of a rounded frond, hollow, 

 and without branches. It is remarkable how tenacious the 

 thong-like, slimy fronds are, and it is not difficult to imagine 

 the difficulties of a swimmer who should have to force his way 

 through a bed of them. The tubular interior is divided up 

 into a number of cells by transverse partitions ; and the spores 

 are embedded in the outer surface. It prefers a sandy or 

 muddy bottom in creeks and harbours, and in such places 

 it grows in dense patches, the fronds attaining a length of 

 from twenty to forty feet. The free end is constantly dying 

 off, but the plant increases by growth at the lower end, just 

 above the false roots. 



The Fennel-leaved Net- weed (Dictyosiphon fceniculaceus) is 

 abundant in rock-pools all round our coast. As its name 

 implies, the frond is much branched and thread-like. It is a 

 light olive in colour, and grows in tufts on stones and larger 

 weeds. The arrangement of the cells in the walls of the frond 

 produce a net-like appearance. 



Everyone knows the thin flat transparent fronds of Sea 

 Lettuce (Ulva latissimd)^ which grows everywhere on the 

 coasts, its margins crisped, folded, torn, or otherwise diversi- 

 fied by Nature, or the many things that feed upon it. It is 



