142 



THE NATURE BOOK 



circles. The fronds are striped across, by the waves after a violent storm, are 

 the colours varying through shades of called the Tangles, and form wonderful 

 orange and olive green, with a little red. forests of weed be3-ond low-tide mark, 



THE CARRAGEEN, OR IRISH MOSS WEED. 



It is a weed well worth seeking, and is 

 the northern representative of an abun- 

 dant tropical seaweed. 



Another remarkable weed is known as 

 Carrageen, or Irish Moss. In shape it 

 somewhat resembles a crumpled fern 

 frond, varying in colour from a yellowish 

 green to a livid purple or olive brown. 

 At one time a fashionable remedy for 

 consumption, it was collected by the 

 peasantry of the west coast of Ireland, 

 and whilst in repute sold for as much 

 as half-a-crown a pound. The Winged 

 Delesseria is a beautiful, and in some j^laces 

 abundant, weed, which spreads out a mass 

 of e.vquisite rich red fronds, and is one of the 

 delights of the collector. Another of the 

 most beautiful and at the same time 

 abundant of our seaweeds, is the Plo- 

 camiiim, the Braided-hair weed. It grows 

 in perfection in the deep low-tide pools, 

 in delicately fine, much-branched masses 

 of a lovely pinkish red colour, and is 

 also frequently cast up in great quan- 

 tities after a storm. The great, dark, 

 olive-coloured, ribbon-shaped, wavy- 

 edged weeds, with tough stalks and 

 curious-looking roots, so often cast up 



forming a home for all sorts of fish and 

 curious marine creatures. One of these 

 Tangles, the Laminaria digitata of the 

 botanist, is collected as kelp for the 

 manufacture of iodine. 



What more pleasing memento of a 

 happy holiday spent by the sea than a 

 collection of these beautifully coloured, 

 graceful-shaped seaweeds ! And such a 

 collection may be very easily formed. 

 All that is wanted are some sheets of 

 drawing paper cut into convenient sizes, 

 a couple of quires of white, absorbent, 

 botanical paper, a few needles mounted in 

 wooden paint-brush handles, a pair of 

 fine pointed scissors, and one or two 

 camel-hair pencils. A cheap and efficient 

 press may be made out of two pieces of 

 half-inch deal board about two feet long 

 and one foot wide, and a double rug- 

 strap. Having brought home some sea- 

 weeds, get a couple of soup-plates and 

 some clean cold water. In one soup- 

 plate cleanse each piece of weed, and then 

 float it out in the second jilate on to a 

 piece of the drawing paj)er supported by 

 your left hand, whilst with your right 

 hand 3'ou work with the needles and 



