CRYPTOGAMIA ALG.E. 225 



the name of mirkles." NEILL. This is the Fucus foliolo- 

 sus of Dr WALKER, Essays, p. 290, which the editor of his 

 work has erroneously referred to the F. saccharinus of 



LlNN^US. 



* * Frond ribless, cleft into unequal segments. 



2. L. digitata, stalk round, tapered ; frond olive-brown, smooth, 

 broad, palmate, torn into many mostly simple segments. (Tangle.) 

 HOOK. Scot. ii. 99. GREV. Alg. Brit. 27. Fucus digitatus, 

 LIGHTF. Scot. 935. WITH. iv. 107. NEILL in Edin. Encycl. 

 x. 20. 



Hab. Coast of Berwickshire and N. Durham within low- 

 water mark, and in pools amongst the rocks, common. I/. 



During storms great numbers of this large species are torn 

 from the rocks and cast on shore, bearing with them a rich 

 harvest to the naturalist In the crevices of the matted 

 roots, shells and worms of various kinds and singular struc- 

 ture find shelter, or a secure place for constructing their 

 furrows ; and many elegant corallines spring up between 

 them, to appearance trees in miniature, but in reality 

 cities full of living inhabitants. The more delicate and 

 richly coloured sea-weeds are parasitical on the stem ; 

 while the broad frond affords an ample field for many 

 pretty shell-fish to feed and course upon. 



Sea-tangle, in common with the other refuse of the sea, is 

 extensively collected for manure. In some places of the 

 Western Islands of Scotland, it forms even a sort of soil 

 on the pebbles of the beach, in which the poor natives sow 

 barley ; and as the sea-weed rots, the grain drops with it 

 into the interstices, so that when the harvest is ready, it 

 is seen growing on a surface of naked and polished pebbles. 

 In the same islands the long stalks are dried for fuel ; and 

 from select pieces of them knife-handles have been made, 

 which are hardly to be distinguished from hartshorn. The 

 plant may be burned also for kelp, as the fronds yield more 

 alkali than any other species commonly used. 



3. L. bulbosa, " stem plane, with a waved foliaceous margin, 

 once twisted at the base, arising from a large rough roundish hol- 

 low bulb ; frond roundish, oblong or reniform, deft deeply into 

 numerous segments." HOOK. Scot. ii. 99. GREV. Alg. Brit. 29. 

 Fucus bulbosus, Eng. Bot. t. 17GO. F. polyschides, LIGHTF. Scot. 



K 3 



