OK, PLAIN TEACHING. 



beneath the outer coat. It is 

 sometimes eaten by fishermen, 

 and other people on the coast, 

 after being fried or roasted, and 

 is said to taste like roasted oys- 

 ters. The term iridcea has re- 

 ference to the iridescent hues of 

 the growing frond in some of 

 the species. 



Man7 of the algae are rather extensively used 

 as food ; and, though to one unused to such 

 diet they would seem to offer little temptation, 

 the poor natives, not only of our own, but of 

 other shores, eat them with much relish. One 

 of the species most extensively eaten is that 

 known in Scotland by the name of dulse (large 

 palmated rhodomenia). It presents the appear- 

 ance of an oblong, thin, membranaceous leaf, 

 purplish, or sometimes rosy red. Before the 

 use of tobacco, this leaf was rolled up and 

 chewed in the same manner as the Virginian 

 leaf is at present. It is eaten in Iceland, and 

 in Kamstchatka, and fermented liquor is pro- 

 duced from it. 



The cry of " buy dulse and tangle " resounded 

 at no very distant period through the streets of 

 Edinburgh. The latter is the sea weed, usually 

 called in England the sea- girdle. It is very 

 common, growing chiefly in deep water, where 

 it is protected from the action of the waves, 

 ts appearance is singular, from a number of 

 little rootlets, which grasp with great tenacity 

 the naked rock. From these springs a straight 

 olive-brown stem, sometimes as thick as a man's 

 wrist, and three or four feet long ; at the sum- 

 mit it dilates into a broad cartilaginous leaf, 

 oblong in form, and palmated, or divided into 

 numerous irregular strips; and should its 

 fronds be destroyed, the plant has the power of 

 restoring them.* 



8 



1156. 



The feathered ptilota, 8, is of a 

 red colour, characterised, with 



* •oase'e Ocean. 



1 



345 



some three or four varieties, by 

 the feathered form of the frond. 

 It is frequent on rocky coasts, 

 grows from three inches to a 

 span in length, and is attached 

 by a small disc. The younger 

 branches are pale crimson or 

 pink; the older, deep purplish 

 red, passing into brown. This 

 is a beautiful object, viewed 

 under a microscope or magnify- 

 ing glass of high power; the 

 surface appears dotted with coral- 

 like scales, and the fruit is con- 

 tained in small involucres, at 

 the extremities of the segments. 



We have spoken of the occasional use of sea 

 weeds as food by man ; and there are some 

 instances, as in Norway, where it is given to 

 cattle. But we have not yet mentioned the 

 utility of marine vegetation to the inhabitants 

 of the sea. There are comparatively few fishes 

 that are vegetable feeders ; but marine vegeta- 

 tion forms the subsistence of myriads of marine 

 creatures, of the molluscous orders, and these in 

 their turn supply food to fishes and crusiaceous 

 animals. 



9 



1157. 



The blunt ruscous-MJce Deles- 

 saria, 9, is a red-fronded species, 

 growing upon rocks, and upon 

 the larger marine plants. This 

 is remarkable for the production 

 of small leaves from the midrib 

 of the fronds. 

 5* 



