!34 



even long before it was known to contain iodine. " A rod about 

 four, six, or eight feet long, having at the end a blade slit into 

 seven or eight pieces, and about a foot and a half long. I had an 

 account of a young man who lost his appetite and had taken pills 

 to no purpose, and being advised to boil the blade of the Alga, 

 and drink the infusion boiled with butter, was restored to his 

 former state of health."— Martin's " Western Isles." By far the 

 most important use to which this plant and the other fuci have 

 been put was the formation of kelp ; much employment and profit 

 were derived from its manufacture : e.g., in 1812 in the island of 

 North Uist, the clear profit from the proceeds of kelp amounted 

 to ^£14,000 ; but the alteration of the law regarding the duty on 

 barilla reduced the value to almost a profitless remuneration of 

 only ^3500, and now the industry is all but extinct. 



L. saccharina — Sweet tangle, sea-belt. Gaelic : smeartan {smear, 

 greasy). The Rev. Mr. MacPhail gives this name to " one of the 

 red sea-weeds." Other correspondents give it to this plant. 

 Milfhearach (O'Donovan). — Sweet tangle, " a marine weed with a 

 sweet root." But the name seems the same as Mikarach, already 

 mentioned, only it has not a " sweet root " like the sea weed. 



L. bulbosa — Sea furbelows, bulbous-rooted tangle. Gaelic : 

 sgrothach. This name is doubtful (sgroth, pimples, postules). 



Alaria esculenta — Badderlocks, hen-ware (which may be a 

 contraction of honey-ware, the name by which it is known in the 

 Orkney Islands). Gaelic : mircean (one correspondent gives this 

 name to "a red sea-weed"), seemingly the same as the Norse 

 name Mdria kjerne, — Mdri, Mary, and kjerne is our word kernel, 

 and has a like meaning. In Gaelic and Irish dictionaries, 

 muirirean (Armstrong), muiririn (O'Reilly), "a species of edible 

 alga, with long stalks and long narrow leaves." — Shaw. In some 

 parts of Ireland, Dr. Drummond says, it is called murlins — 

 probably a corruption of muiririn, muirichlinn, muirlinn 

 (MacAlpine), (from muir, mara, the sea). Manx: mooirlane. 

 It is known in some parts of Ireland by the name sparain or 

 sporain, purses, because the pinnated leaflets are thought to 

 resemble the Highlander's sporan. Gruaigean (in Skye). 



Rhodymenia palmata — Dulse. Gaelic and Irish : duileasg, 

 from duille, a leaf, and uisge, water — the water-leaf. The High- 



