_RUCE 
mersed in the leaf.”——This species is often called sea- 
belt. It is very common, and one of’ the largest of our 
fuci: The colour is a deep olive brown, sometimes 
partly green... Wahlenberg mentions that he ascer- 
tained by experiment that the plant contains no mu- 
cilage. ‘An extraordinary circumstance in the history 
ef this lant (already alluded to) was first correctly ob- 
served by Mr Bingham of Uxbridge. A contraction is 
observed to take place in the frond every year: this is 
occasioned by a new or secondary frond proceeding 
from the stem, and pushing the old or primary frond 
before it. Mr Turner was the first who correctly de- 
scribed the fructification. It is observable in the centre 
of the leaf, in the form of irregular spots, the frond being 
at these places much thickened, and the surface found, 
on: applying ‘a microscope, to be covered with innume- 
rable extremely minute oblong brown seeds. Light- 
foot mentions, that the common people on the coast 
of England sometimes boil this species as a pot-herb. 
The Icelanders, we are told by Anderson, boil it! in 
milk to the. consistence of pottage, and eat it with a 
spoon.) They are also said to soak it in fresh water, 
Seinie the sun, and then lay it up in wooden vessels ; 
it soon becomes coverec! with a white efflorescence of' 
salt, which has a sweetish taste,’ and in this state they 
eat it with butter. Lastly, it is mentioned that ‘they 
feed their cattle with the plant, both: in its recent and 
dry state. There is, however, every reason to think that 
all this is more properly applicable to Fucus palmatus 
or dulse, than to the true F. saccharinus ; for Mr Hook- 
er informs’ us that the ‘alga saccherifera Islandica is the 
Fucus palmatus. We are positively certain that the 
Fucus saccharinus of the Frith of Forth, prepared ac- 
cording to the usual methods of cookery, makes a. 
wretched pot-herb, and that, in its unprepared state, it 
is of so harsh a nature that cattle cannot relish it. The 
Norwegians, we may add, on the authority of Wahlen- 
berg, prize it so little, that their name for it, Toll-tare, 
implies that it is fit only for the devil. Very different, 
however, is the estimate of its: merits in some of 
the East Indies. ‘It is there so extensively as hu- 
man food, that it is well entitled to be placed at the 
head of the list of edible fuci.. Thunberg, in his Flora 
Japonica, states that it is much used in Japan, and is 
there prepared in such a way as to be quite esculent. 
Barrow, in his Voyage to Cochinchina, confirms this 
statement, and mentions, that, when valuable presents 
are made by the Japanese, they are laid on pieces of: 
this fucus, in testimony, as he thinks, of their regard 
for it as the 
nion, that the famous chinchou jelly of China is in part 
made from this species. If further proof be wanted, 
it is furnished by Broughton, who informs us,* that in 
Volcano Bay, in the island of Matsmai, he saw ‘a junk, 
laden with sea-weed, which he affirms, without hesita- 
tion, to have been Fucus saccharinus. He says that it 
ws plentifully on the shores of Volcano Bay, and 
that the people were constantly engaged in cutting it, 
drying it in the sun, and ing it up into bundles. 
for exportation. He repeats, in three different places 
of his work, that the plant alluded to is Fucus saccha- 
rinus ; and although neither Barrow nor Brough- 
ton seem to have any pretensions as botanists, they 
are supported in this instance by Thunberg, who ranks. 
high as a botanical authority. It may therefore seem 
extravagant to surmise the possibility of all these wri-. 
neral emblem of those sources of sub-' 
sistence which the sea affords. He is further of opi-' 
21 
ters being in a mistake concerning the identity of the 
species; yet to those best acquainted with this tribe of 
plants, it would be no great surprise hereafter to learn, 
that the Fucus saceharinus of the East is in reality a 
non-descript species, resembling the British plant. In 
the mean time, however, we must receive them as the 
same, and conclude, that the Fucus saccharinus of our 
shores is neglected and despised, merely because we are 
ignorant of the mode of preparing it ; and that, from 
the waht of this knowledge, a plant, capable of affording 
a useful article of food or even a nutritious delicacy, is 
of no use tous, but to swell the heap of drift-ware for 
the kelp furnace or the:dunghil. For the former purpose, 
indeed, it is not much esteemed, as it is found to become 
bleached and saltless from even slight exposure to rain.” 
. Bu escielentus : «The frond membranaceous, flat, mid- 
ribbed, simple, ensiform, entire at its margins, support- 
ed upon a’ short, cylindrical, pinnated stipes; pinne 
fleshy, distichous, oblong, flat, nerveless, containing nu- 
merous, pyriform, immersed seeds.”—This is called 
Badderlocks oy Hen-ware, on the east coast of Scotland ; 
and in’ the’ Orkney islands, Honey-ware. In Norway 
it is, by way of eminence, styled tare or ware. It grows 
on rocks;in pretty deep water, commonly in places 
where the tips of the fronds can reach the surface at 
ebb-tide. The stalk is generally from six inches to a 
foot in length; and near its base occurs a whorl of 
inne. The frond varies from six to twenty feet in 
length, with a:mid-rib extending the whole way. The 
mid-rib, stripped of its membrane, is the part chiefly 
eaten ; but in some places, particularly in Orkney, the 
innz are also eaten, under the name of mirkles. Mr 
urner mentions that these are likewise called /eys, 
and are only brought to market when thick and fleshy, 
which is generally in August and September. In Nor- 
way the pinne do not in general appear till the second 
year. -Wahlenberg states, that during the first year the 
stem is naked, but next year, while the greater part of 
the frond is d ed, the'stem swells in the middle ; 
from which swelling the pinnz proceed. At the Carr 
Rock in the Frith of Forth, the pinne were visible not 
only the first year, but in plants only a very few months 
old; and the rudiments of them were discernible in 
some which were only three or four inches long, and 
apparently but a few weeks sprung. - 
“F. palmatus: “ The frond is membranaceous, flat, 
nerveless; palinated, quite entire at the margin; seg- 
ments: oblong,’ mostly simple ; seeds naked, collected 
into wide, irregularly shaped spots, scattered all over 
the frond.”—This is the well-known dudse of the low- 
land Scots, and the duiiliosg of the Highlanders. In 
Ireland it is called dillesk ; and it is there first washed in: 
fresh water, and then dried in the sun, before being used. 
In this state/it is often made up into rolls, and chew- 
ed like tobacco. The Icelanders call it sol. The Nor- 
wegians name it sou-soell or sheep’s-weed, and Bishop 
Gunner has therefore adopted the name Fucus ovi- 
nus, observing that sheep and ‘goats betake themselves 
in great numbers eagerly to the shore at ebb-tide to 
obtain this pleasant food. « Buy dulse and tangle,” 
is one of the Edinburgh cries, tangle meaning the ten< 
der stalks and very young fronds of Fucus digitetus. 
Both. are eaten recent from the sea, commonly without 
any preparation; they are sometimes considered ‘as 
forming a salad, but more generally are used as a 
whet. Dulse is now very wel ode fried and brought to 
table. It is said, that the inhabitants of the Greek 
*. Poyage to the North Pacific Ocean, in 1195; §c. by W. R. Broughton; p. 273, 
‘ 
Fuci. 
—_—. 
F. esculen- 
tus. 
F. palma- 
tus, 
