THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 



47 



The Sea-Girdle (Laminaria digitata). 



Orkneys Red-ware (Laminaria digitata). It is very 

 common, growing chiefly in deep water, where it 

 is protected from the heavy action of the waves. Its 

 appearance is singular : from a number of little root- 

 lets, which grasp with great tenacity the naked 

 rock, springs a straight olive-brown stem, sometimes 

 as thick as a man's wrist, and three or four feet 

 long: at the summit it dilates into a broad car- 

 tilaginous leaf, oblong in form, and palmated, or 



