Aug. 1, 1865.] 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



173 



GATHERING SEAWEEDS. 



Pleasant it is 

 On summer flays to wander by the sea, 

 And view the lovely ocean plants that wave 

 In each translucent rock-pool. — Aywn. 



T this season of the year, when all those who 

 delight in a stroll on the sea-shore hasten to 

 some favourite watering-place, there will probably 

 be among this happy number some of the readers 

 of the Science Gossip, and possibly some few who 

 do not hold seaweeds in such utter contempt as to 

 consider the occupation of collecting and drying 

 them unworthy of their attention. 



I have not unfreqnently met with people who, 

 although expressing the greatest admiration for 

 these exquisite productions, rarely take the trouble 

 to collect them ; because, as they say, " seaweeds 

 are so difiicult to obtain in good condition, and very 

 troublesome to preserve ; " also, " that to dry them 

 so as to retain their proper colour and appearance 

 when found in their native element, requires so 

 much time and such a variety of apparatus." All 

 this is very true ; but can any branch of science be 

 practised, even as an amusement, without engrossing 

 time, and requiring the employment of tools or 

 apparatus of some kind ? However, for the benefit 

 of those who may be disposed to dabble a little in 

 ihe collecting and preserving of British Marine Algse 

 this season, I purpose lierewith to give them a few 

 plain directions as to the most effective method of 

 cleaning and preserving the plants wliich are most 

 likely to be found by those who collect during the 

 ebb and flow of the tide, or who confine their searcli 

 to the shores, or rock-pools, or among the mass of 

 weeds which are cast up during rough weather. 



Most of the green and olive seaweeds are readily 

 found, either in a growing state, or cast ashore, 

 from high-water mark to extreme low-water mark, 

 but nearly every species of red weed grovrs sub- 

 merged, and a vast number of them in deep water 

 only ; so that, unless they are obtained by the 

 troublesome process of dredging, it is seldom in- 

 deed that the unskilled collector meets with good 

 specimens of red plants, unless he have the good 

 fortune to tind them soon after they are cast ashore ; 

 their beauty being quickly impaired by contact with 

 decaying matter, and their colours destroyed by ex- 

 posure to the sunlight. 



Seaweed gathering, like everything else, requires 

 practice and experience, and beginners must not be 

 disappointed because they do not find rarities or 

 fine specimens whenever and wherever they may 

 seek for them. As a general rule, without reference 

 to ihe season of the year, the best time for col- 

 lecting is at the spring tides, or during the change 

 of the moon ; in other words, to commence a day 

 or two before the full of the moon, and continue 

 until two or three days after the new moon, because 



at this period the tide recedes much further, so that 

 a considerable space is laid bare ; on rocky shores 

 many rare plants are, at these times, frequently met 

 with. Eor instance, I may menaon the Castle 

 Hocks at Hastings, which are unapproachable ex- 

 cept in a boat at ordinary low-water mark, and then 

 few but the commonest red weeds are found growing 

 upon them ; and yet at the lowest spring tides I 

 have waded out to these rocks, and on the outer side 

 of several of them I have found the rare Tilwdy- 

 menia Talmetta, and other choice led plants in 

 tolerable abundance. 



As to what species of plants are to be found in 

 particular localities, I may observe, that with the 

 exception of some few, which are pretty nearly 

 certain to make their appearance regularly, I have 

 never found all the same species of plants in the 

 same localities for two consecutive seasons. Arthro- 

 cladia, for instance, an early summer olive plant, 

 was very abundant one season at Hastings, and yet 

 for three years afterwards I did not find a single 

 specimen ; hence, I may say, I go out collecting 

 without having the slightest idea what class or 

 character of plants I may meet with, but because of 

 this uncertainty I aWays make preparations for a 

 plentiful harvest, so that upon my return home I 

 may lose no unnecessary time in cleaning and dis- 

 playing my "treasures of the deep." Several of 

 our popular watering-places, such as Brighton, 

 Margate, and Hastings, have been spoken of as not 

 very likely localities for the production of fine sea- 

 weeds, still I have rarely searched the shores at these 

 places without finding some interesting specimens. 

 But of all the shores I have ever visited, none can 

 bear a comparison, either for beauty or variety of 

 species, with the south coast of Devon ; especially 

 that rocky pai't which commences near ihe Break- 

 water at Plymouth, and so on for a few miles down 

 the shore as far as the famed Mewstone Pock, the 

 nooks and little bays of which abound with many 

 rare species of seaweed. Again, the shores around 

 Mount Edgcumbe and Cawsand Bay are rich in 

 particular species ; and then, if the collector hires 

 a boat at Plymouth, and sails over to Cawsand, a 

 delightful walk of half an hour or so, through the 

 picturesque lanes and over the hill, will bring him 

 to Whit sand Bay, one of the most magnificent 

 scenes on the British shores, and one of the most 

 productive localities with which I am acquainted. 

 It was here that 1 met with the rare Besmaresfia 

 Ugidata (usually a deep-water species) growing on 

 rocks at extreme low-water mark, and indeed many 

 other rarities too numerous to mention. 



A few words must suffice to inform the collector 

 that in some of the shallow rock-pools on the Hastings 

 shore, between the White Rock and the Archway, 

 he will frequently^fiud that pretty httle green plant 

 Bryopsis plumosa in tolerable abundance. Care 



