lOI 



or leathagan, barr stamh^ and bragair, names given to the broad 

 leaves on the top. Doire (in Skye), tangle. Though not so much 

 used for food as formerly, it is still chewed by the Highlanders 

 when tobacco becomes scarce. It was thought to be an effectual 

 remedy against scorbutic and glandular diseases, even long before 

 it was known to contain iodine. " A rod about four, six, or eight 

 feet long, having at the end a blade slit into seven or eight 

 pieces, and about a foot and a half long. I had an account of 

 a young man who lost his appetite and had taken pills to no 

 purpose, and being advised to boil the blade of the Alga, and 

 drink the infusion boiled with butter, was restored to his former 

 state of health " — Martin's 'Western Isles.' By far the most 

 important use to which this plant and the other fuci have been 

 put was the formation of kelp ; much employment and profit 

 were derived from its manufacture : e.g.^ in i8i2,in the island of 

 North Uist, the clear profits from the proceeds of kelp amounted 

 to ;£"i4,ooo; but the alteration of the law regarding the duty 

 on barilla reduced the value to almost a profitless remuneration 

 of only ^3500. 



L. saccharina — Sweet tangle, sea-belt. Gaelic : smeartan 

 {smear ^ greasy). The Rev. Mr M'Phail gives this name to "one 

 of the red sea-weeds." Other correspondents give it to this 

 plant. 



L. bulbosa — Sea furbelows, bulbous-rooted tangle. Gaelic : 

 sgrothach. This name is doubtful {sgroth, pimples, postules). 



Alaria esculenta — Badderlocks, hen-ware (which may be a 

 contraction of honey-ware, the name by which it is known in 

 the Orkney Islands). Gaelic : mircean (one correspondent gives 

 this name to ** a red sea-weed "), seemingly the same as the 

 Norse name Maria kjerne, — Mart, Mary, and kjerne is our word 

 kernel, and has a like meaning. In Gaelic and Irish diction- 

 aries, miiirirean (Armstrong), mimHrin (O'Reilly), "a species 

 of edible alga, with long stalks and long narrow leaves" — Shaw. 

 In some parts of Ireland, Dr Drummond says, it is called mur- 

 lins — probably a corruption of miiiririn, mutrichlinn, mtdrlinn 

 (M'Alpine), (from niuir, mara, the sea). It is known in some 

 parts of Ireland by the name sparain or sporain, purses, because 

 the pinnated leaflets are thought to resemble the Highlander's 

 sporan, Gruaigean (in Skye). 



Rhodymenia palmata — Dulse. Gaelic and Irish : dtnliasg, 

 from duilie, a leaf, and uisge, water — the water-leaf The High- 

 landers and Irish still use dtiiliasg^ and consider it wholesome 



