SOME ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF SHORE LIFE 293 



Scottish seaboard is Rhodymenia palmata or *' dulse." It may 

 be cooked and eaten as a vegetable, but in the majority of 

 cases it is merely dried in the sun, rolled up and chewed like 

 tobacco ; or the preliminary treatment may be dispensed with 

 altogether and the weed employed in the fresh state. 

 Sauvageau quotes Johnston and Croall to the effect that the 

 presence of epiphytes or forms such as Idothea and small 

 molluscs {e.g. Rissoa and Mytilus) is considered an advan- 

 tage by some ! 



Another kind of red seaweed used in this country is 

 Porphyra^ either P. laciniata or P. vulgaris, known in England 

 as " laver," the Irish appellation being " sloke." The dis- 

 tribution of this seaweed is, however, more local. At Clare 

 Island, according to Cotton, the weed is gathered in sprmg 

 and eaten either cooked or pickled. At Llwyngwril, near 

 Aberdovey, and on the South Pembrokeshire coast, previous 

 to the war, a fair quantity of laver was picked and forwarded 

 regularly to Cardiff for the preparation of a special bread 

 used by persons suffering from diabetes. 



Another species which in virtue of its peppery flavour 

 is sometimes employed as a condiment in Scotland is 

 Laurencia pinnatifida, where it is known as Pepper-dulse. 



Both dulse and laver may be seen on sale in the smaller 

 shops of the coastal towns of south-west Britain, and the 

 former is regularly exposed for sale on the Aberdeen fish- 

 stalls. 



It is in Japan, however, that seaweeds are put to the 

 greatest number of uses, being employed as food, as plaster 

 and glue, as starch, and as manure for the rice-fields (Davidson, 

 1906). The best known product is " kanten " or seaweed 

 isinglass, familiar in this country as agar-agar, where it finds 

 its chief application as a culture medium for bacteria. In 

 addition, agar-agar is used in numerous ways for edible 

 purposes, particularly for preparing jellies ; for clarifying 

 wines ; for sizing textiles and silks, and in the manufacture 

 of paper. Under the name agar-agar is included a series of 

 products, possessing similar properties, derived from several 

 different species of red seaweed, chiefly species of Gelidium. 



