38 
AKA ROE. 
is the true Alga saccharifera of Biarne Povelsen, 
who has written a dissertation upon it. It has 
been, however, the opinion of many Fucologists, 
that the Sol of the Icelanders is the jF. saccha- 
rinus of Linnaeus; misled probably by the name 
of the latter, which, however, does not give out 
a saccharine powder, but merely saline particles, 
by no means agreeable to the taste. Of this, 
Gmelin, in his Historia Fucorum , page 198, says, 
“ certumque quoque est, saccharum, quod pro-* 
“ fert, non nisi salem marinum esse, in substantia 
u Fuci efflorescentem, qui propterea leviter gus^ 
tc tatus dulcedinis sensum linguae imprimit, quique 
“ purgantem effectum edit, si Fuci ingesta copia 
“ nimia fuerit, sale turn fibras intestinales vel- 
“ licante.” The learned Tatsroed of Iceland 
has written a full account of the three esculent 
Fuci of his country, F. palmatus, F. digita- 
tus , and F. esculentus , which was printed at 
Copenhagen last spring. Of this work he very 
kindly presented me with a copy for myself, and 
also one for Mr. Turner, with whose Historia 
Fucorum (as far at least as was then published) 
he was not unacquainted. The number of quo¬ 
tations from various authors in the Taisroeds 
little work was a sufficient proof of his having 
paid great attention to the subject on which he 
wrote, and of his possessing botanical books, 
which a stranger would little expect to meet 
