“brown. The plant is pulpy 
FUCL 19 
amuse themselves by cutting them transversely near the 
end, and making whistles of them: hence the name sea- 
whistles ona =e — ime plant. i seeds 
are contained in ellipti hherical receptacles, which 
, on short flat peduncles, from the sides of the 
vanches. These acquire « yellow colour, 
and. give occasion to the name of yellow tang, by which 
this species is known in Orkney, Like the last spe- 
cies, it is much used by the ke kers, and it often 
poe name of kelp wrack. Zoopbytes are seldom 
d attached to this fucus; but dense tufts of the 
dark-coloured Conferva polymorpha are frequently to 
be observed on it, and indeed this species of Conferva is 
scarcely ever to be detected in any other habitat. 
» By, serratus; “The frond coriaceous, flat, mid-rib- 
bed, linear, dichotomous, serrated at the margins ; re- 
fore solitary, terminal, flat, linear, serrated, sharp- 
ish.” It is sometimes called black wrack, or prickly 
fe cache bye the ee ee aya Ira ‘sed at 
i and by the ab- 
uc anenentin It is mS uncovered at bb tide, 
wing, as ly remar in deeper water than 
Grnesicloce, ornodosus, In itsymode of growth, it 
villum or circular tuft, ing out on 
point of attachment. When 
forms. a 
every side from a central 
fresh, the frond is of a dark olive green colour ; when 
castiashore and dried on the beach, it is almost black. 
It is very frequently overrun by the small coralline call- 
ed Sertularia pumila, or sea-tamarisk. Serpula spi- 
rorbis, and spirillum, are also uention it. The black 
wrack is. for coveri ters, or other shell- 
fish, that.are to be kept alive during land carriage, be- 
oes apt to rumivto, fermentation than some others 
which abound with mucus. According to Gmelin, 6 
ounces only, of lixivial salt. are procured from 16 ounces 
ofthe, ashes; and Turner mentions, that he was 
told that: it is but little used for making kelp in the 
Western Islands, “ because it shrinks so much in dry- 
ing; and contains so. little marine salt,’ meaning soda. 
In Norway, it is.called bred tang; and Gunner states, 
that in some parts of that co’ , the inhabitants 
sprinkle it over with meal, and give it to their cattle. 
_B. loreus : * The substance of the frond is between 
ilaginous and coriaceous, compressed, linear, nerve- 
less, entire at the. ins, dichotomous, expanded at 
its base into-a. bell- cup; tubercles immersed 
inevery)part, and on both sides of the frond.” This 
species is well known by the name of sea-thongs. In 
Orkney it is called drew,—a name which would seem 
to be etymological related to the badreux of the 
Straitsof Magellan. It is pretty common in the north 
of Scotland and its islands, particularly on shelving 
sandstone rocks. When in a young state, before the 
thongs have n, it forms a concave dise or cup, 
and gives to the rocks the appearance of being covered 
with some sort of mushroom, or rather peziza, as men- 
tioned.in the specific character. From this circumstanee, 
it is described by some old writers as wie Ap is affix 
Fre ore a pas aemase yy Be phasganoi others. 
‘Phe extended str. onds, generally two in 
mumber, arise from the» centre of the cup. They are 
dichotomous, or divide-into two at intervals. 
ly three, often six, or evew ten. feet in length. 
rlase, indeed, in-his. History of Cornwall, mentions 
that.on that coast, are sometimes found twenty 
feet long. The are nee gam with a tinge of 
succulent, and a good 
They are. 
deal of excellent kelp is made froma it in Orkney ; for 
iastance in the i 
ing to Dr Traill of Liverpool. It is a perennial spe- 
cies, or at least the plants require two years to come to 
erfection. | Wahlenberg therefore is in a mistake when 
ne says that it is an annual; but it must be consider~ 
ed, that he describes from observations made on the 
most stormy shores of Norway, where, as he tells us, 
not a vestige of it survives the winter, where the discs 
appear only in May, and where the plant never attains 
a greater length than eight or twelve inches. Thesame 
author gives it as his opinion, that the cup-shaped dise 
is the only part analogous to a frond, the ones Tans 
merely seminiferous spikes. To this notion he hasbeen... 
led, partly by the imperfect growth of the specimens he 
was acquainted with, and perhaps partly by the inaccu- 
rate description of the fructification given by Dr Roth. 
This was correctly described and delineated by Mr 
Turner, (Hist. Fuc. t. 196.) Elliptical tubercles are 
everywhere immersed through the strap-shaped fronds, 
containing masses of minute dark brown seeds. 
Fuci. 
of Westray, on an estate belong- “"—™” 
F. filum: “ The frond cartilaginous, slimy, cylindri~ F. flu. 
cal, filiform, attenuated at both ends, jointed internally, 
spirally twisted when old.” This species is frequently 
called sea-lace. In Orkney, it gets the name of cat- 
gut, and in Shetland: lucky minny’s lines. The length 
to which it grows is amazing, not less than from twen- 
ty to forty feet. Lightfoot mentions, that the stalks, 
skinned when half dry and twisted, acquire such 
strength and toughness, as to be used for fishing line, 
like Indian grass, (which last, although it has got this 
vegetable name, is an animal substance, attached to 
the ovaries of some of the small foreign sharks.) The 
plant consists of a simple frond, without. branches, It 
is of a deep olive colour. In the interior, the stem. is - 
divided by horizontal partitions, which Lamouroux 
says form a spiral when the plant becomes bent or twist- 
ed. The Bishop of Carlisle, and Mr Woodward, had 
previously remarked (in Lin. Trans. vol. iii.) that the 
whole frond is composed of twe equal longitudinal 
threads, coiled spirally round each other ; this structure 
becoming evident when the plant has received an inju- 
ry. It floats about in the manner of Sparganium natans, 
following the course of the waves ; but, as remarked 
by Linneus, it lies immediately under the surface of?’ 
the water, not on it. In Scalpa Bay, near Kirkwall in 
Orkney, we have:sailed through meadows of it in a pin« 
nace not without some difficul , where the water was 
between, three and four fathoms deep, and where. of 
course the waving weeds must at least have -been 
from: twenty to thirty feet long. This, too; was the - 
growth of one season ; for the storms of winter com- 
letely sweep it from the bay every season. The plant, 
ea a may not, strictly speaking, be an annual ; and 
Lamouroux observes, that its duration depends very. 
much on the nature of: the place where it grows. In 
Orkney, a considerable quantity of kelp is occasion~ 
ally made from this species; and the kelpsmakers 
remark, that ‘ it falls small in burning; and wash- 
es like soap.” * It is common in all the friths of 
Norway, as far as the. North Cape ; and Bishop,Gun- 
ner adds, that it furnishes a grateful and nutritious 
food to the Norwegian’ cattle. The fructification 
of this.species has long been a problem to the natu- 
ralist. Roth considered it as ed in’ a glandular 
ule at the extremity of the plant, Stackhouse 
thought he found it-hid in. the substance of the plant, 
* Tawr-in Orkney and Shetland, 1806,.p. 29. 
