Xll 
INTRODUCTION. 
but never mind ; plenty can be done without it, if the loving disciple "will but have patience with 
the waves, use her stick cleverly to assist the nearing of the plants, and separate them so 
as to observe their forms as they approach. She will thus soon learn to know the fairy 
Callithamnion bushes (Plates LVI. to LIX.) from everything else, and will push aside the 
coarser Paul Pry, Ceramium ruhrum, for their more refined tufts ; nay, could scarcely fail to 
recognise Chrysymenia rosea (now Chylocladia rosea^ see Fig. 142) itself, even at first sight. 
But patience and enjoyment must go hand in hand here. To stoop down once or twice and 
then be weary, will not do. You must kneel, or sit, or recline on the rock, and fairly gaze on 
into the water as the waves waft the plants up and down. And if you have got into a good 
place, i. e. under shelter, and where fresh things are coming in, half an hour will scarcely be 
too much to remain, unless the tide is ebbing, in which case you must follow it to the next 
convenient resting-place. 
Of course, to gather a plant growing is the orthodox perfection of sea-weed discovery, but 
these hints are especially intended for the comfort of the sisterhood who are hampered both in 
wading and climbing. And they may rest assured that some of the rarest and loveliest plants 
may be caught in the manner above described, and often as perfect and uninjured as if careful 
hands instead of reckless waves had detached them from the rocks. The truth is, the scarce 
low-water plants are apt to haunt very inaccessible places ; places, too, where the roaring of 
breakers is so near at hand, and the standing ground so wet with spray, that a strong mental 
effort is necessary to keep the nerves and feet steady, even after the difficulties of getting there 
are surmounted. Not that the spot is unsafe for any one who is sure of a continuous self- 
command ; but invalids sometimes become sea-weed collectors, and it would be madness to 
counsel women indiscriminately to be strong-minded above their condition. People can, 
however, do at one time what they cannot at another ; and wfith a male companion to lend 
a hand and infuse a sense of security, a very eerie hunting-ground may be sometimes ventured 
upon ; yea, even within the splash and uproar of such heavy dark green waves as beat against 
the north side of Filey Bridge, the place of all others to which the above remarks specially 
refer. But unprotected females” have no business to be running risks for the sake of “vile 
sea-weeds and, for their consolation be it known, that although that bewitching Chrysymenia 
rosea lurks in just such fearful corners, only attainable at spring-tides, and only uncovered then 
for a very short time, yet as fine a specimen as has ever been found of it was floated into a 
shallow tide-pool that formed round a large stone on the sands of Filey Bay ! 
But having said thus much for the happy chances which often attend zcrec^-gathering, as 
distinguished from roc^-gathering, it is fair to add, that all low-water hunting-ground is not of 
the same inaccessible character. In flat open bays and shores, with rock-fields of moderate 
height, you have only to look out for not being surrounded by back-water, and may, if you are 
indifferent to noise and dreariness, prowl up and down the fruitful wet lanes that lie between 
the different masses, to your heart’s content. Of this kind is the glorious coast to the north of 
Berwick-upon-Tweed, where hundreds of collectors might work together without ever interfering 
with each other, so great is its extent ; and where, when beaten back by the tide, you find exten- 
sive upper caves, into whose shadowy pools the wreck has been floated unscathed and unfaded, 
and where you may pick it out for another hour or two longer. Into these caves come from 
time to time the tiny fronds of the scarce Rhodyinenia cristata (now Euthora cristata, Fig. 184)^ 
as dear to an algologist’s eye as a nugget of gold. 
