VARIETIES OF SEA-WEED. 95 



nation, varec. The one which we have been just alluding to 

 s often called the Gulf-iveed. 



The JllgsD, the order to which the Fuci belong, afford 

 many other interesting plants. Fucus tenax, which, though 

 a small plant, is collected in such large quantities, that 27, 

 000 Ibs. are annually imported at Canton, where it is used 

 for the same purpose that we employ glue and gum. The 

 Chinese chiefly use it in the manufacture of lanterns, to 

 strengthen or varnish the paper, and sometimes to thicken or 

 give a gloss to their silks and gauzes.* The Laminarise, in 

 which the inhabitants of New Holland find materials for in- 

 strumentsf and for vases^: to hold water, and which they also 

 eat as food. Those of the polar regions yield nourishment 

 in time of famine; and Laminaria digitata was consecrated to 

 the sorcerers in Iceland, Norway, and the North of Scotland. 



MRS. c. 



The last you mention, is the Tangle of the Scotch, and is 

 called by us Sea Girdles. 



Fucus crispus,\\ which is abundant on rocky shores, has 

 been extensively collected on the coast of Ireland, washed, 

 bleached upon the beach, and employed as a substitute for 

 isin-glass in making blanc mange, &c. Then there is the 

 Dulse (Halymtnia palmetto,,} which we have all often gather- 

 ed and eaten. This is the saccharine Fucus, which is dried 

 in Iceland, packed down in casks, and used as occasion re- 

 quires. It is also a great favorite with cattle, and sheep in 

 particular eat this species with great eagerness. The Scotch 

 eat it in a crude state, and also dried and rolled up, when they 

 use it as tobacco.^f 



* Lindlej. L. saccharina and esculent;!. 



t L. buccinalis. || Chondrus genus of Hooker. 



\ L. potatorum. 

 5 Hooker's English Flora, vol. v. p. 291. 



