SEA-WEEDS. 125 



slippery to the touch. This species is very com- 

 mon in the North Sea, where it is frequently 

 found of the length of thirty or forty feet. Dr. 

 Johnston finds it in the Bay of Holy Isle, about 

 twenty feet in length. In Scalpa Bay, in Orkney, 

 this sea-weed forms meadows, through which a 

 pinnace with difficulty forces its way. And many 

 an unwary swimmer has sunk, by means of this 

 plant, to rise no more from the ocean bed. Often 

 the calm quiet nook of water, whose sandy floors 

 are covered with its long strings, seems to offer a 

 delightful bathing-place ; but the entangling cords 

 form masses, from which the bather finds it diffi- 

 cult, sometimes impossible, to make his escape. 

 In Shetland, it is known by the name of Lucky 

 Minny's Lines : and the Highlanders dry it in the 

 sun, and take off its skin, when it makes a good 

 strong cord for the fishermen. It has also been 

 much valued in the Orkneys for the produce of 

 kelp. 



The Jointed Whiplash (Chorda lomentaria) is 

 nearly as common as this kind, and abundant on 

 the coast of Devonshire, as well as on the western 

 and eastern shores of Scotland. It much resem- 

 bles the other species in general appearance, but 

 is smaller. Dr. Greville remarks of it, that it is 

 very similar to the intestine of an animal, tied at 

 certain intervals. It is found in summer and 

 autumn, and is of a thin flaccid substance, and of 

 a transparent olive-green colour. 



Another plant, which in the sea looks like fine 

 strings, is the Whipcord Fucus (Chordaria flagelli- 

 formis] ; but it is not, like the whiplash, composed 

 of one long cord-like frond, but has a central 

 stem, with long branches, scarcely thicker than a 



