65 
given to our local examples. This preliminary attempt to verify the 
list so far as the immediate neighbourhood of the Marine Laboratory, 
Cullercoats, is concerned, may therefore be of interest. 
During the past summer, fifteen species of Pha'ophycere have 
been frequently gathered, including Alaria esciilenta, still used as an 
edible in some parts of Ireland and Scotland ; and the bladderwracks 
and tangles which deaden the force of the surf beating on the rocks, 
and shelter the great majority of the smaller animals ; five species 
of Chlorophycese, including those called “laver” or “sloke,” and 
used in some parts of the country as food ; and the common sea-grass, 
Enteromorpha intestinalis and E. compressa, which attach themselves 
to any object, moving or stationary, and produce such large quantities 
of oxygen as to swell out the tissues into a buoyant bladder ; and 
twenty-five species of Khodophycejn. Amongst the latter are the 
most beautiful in point of structure, and also some which are of use 
as food, e.fj., “dulse,” Dilsea (Iridoea) edulis, and “carrageen,” 
Chondriis crUpus. 
The list includes probably less than half of those possible to be 
found, as very few rare ones are given. Systematic dredging just 
below low-tide mark, would no doubt considerably increase the list 
of smaller and rarer specimens. For those mentioned I am indebted 
to Mr. .John Taylor, of the Marine Laboratory. 
It has already been stated that the masses of weed afford food 
and shelter to vast numbers of small animals, which in their turn 
form the sustenance of the larger ones. This applies also to a class 
of plants not specifically mentioned in this account, which form 
enormous floating masses of microscopic vegetation, such as the 
Diatomacefe and the Peridinea?, the latter causing the surface 
phosphorescence so often seen. These are consumed as food by 
pelagic animals, and form, as Mr. George Murray says, “the basis 
of the pyramid of which man is the apex.” In some parts of 
Scotland and Ireland kelp produced from Laminaria and Fucus has 
been a staple article of commercial value for the production of iodine, 
but local enquiries have not brought to light any instance of its use 
for this purpose on the north-east coast. It has been, and is still 
used, however, as manure, and in one of the pamphlets recently issued 
by the Board of of Agriculture and Fisheries, reference is made to 
its effect on wireworm. As an edible, dulse is known to have been 
collected here in quantities up to wdthin ten years since. After 
being dried in the sun it was sent to market in different parts of 
England. 
