August 4. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
349 
f 
BANTAMS, Cock and Hen. (Gold-laced.) 
Second prize, T. C, Constable, Esq. No first prize. Fourteen entries. 
DUCKS. (Muscovy.) 
First prize, Ed. Allen, Esq., York. One entry. 
DUCKS. (Aylesbury.) 
First prize, Ed. Allen, Esq. Second prize, Mr, G. Jackson. Four 
entries. 
DUCKS. (Rouen.) 
First prize, Mr. G. Jackson. Three entries. 
SEA WEEDS.—No. 5. 
(Continued from “page 230.) 
ORDER 2.—SPOROCHNACE2E. 
Carpomitra Cabreiue. —“Thrown up from deep water; 
very rare. It is found not only on the south of England and 
Ireland, and of Spain, hut it is also a native of New 
Zealand. It seems to be rare in all its recorded stations ”— 
Harvey. 
Though the British species of Sporochnacete ar<^ so few, 
and none of them common, save the Desmurestia, yet they 
make up in beauty what is wanting in numbers. The 
young I). aculeata, with its beautiful soft, green, silky fringe, 
is a lovely weed; and Arthrocladia villosa, adorned by its 
small “joint-like swellings and filaments of delicate green,” ; 
wins our admiration. The endless variety of the works ot 
God is most astonishing, even as regards what is known to 
us; but how much is still hidden from our view, for God 
“ Doctli great things and unsearchable ; marvellous things 
without number.’’ Job v. 9. 
“ Olive-coloured, inarticulate Sea Weeds, whose spores 
are attached to external, jointed filaments, which are either 
free or compacted together into knob-like masses.” 
“ A small group,” says Dr. Harvey, “ containing five 
genera, comprising twenty-four species.” 
It is a curious fact that they destroy other Algte. 
DESMARESTIA. 
Name in honour of A. G. Desmarest, a celebrated French 
naturalist. 
1. Desjiarestia ligulata (Strap-shaped).—“ Generally 
in deep water; frequent on the southern shores of England 
and south and west of Ireland. The frond is from two to 
six feet long; substance at first cartilaginous, becoming 
flaccid ■when exposed to the air; colour, when growing, 
olive -brown, becoming green in the air. The fructification 
is unknown.” 
2. D. viridis (Green).—“In the sea, on stones, and the 
larger Alga. Not uncommon. The whole plant has a 
feathery and delicate appearance.” 
3. D. aculeata (Pointed).—“ Stem short, throwing forth 
numerous slender branches, which are repeatedly irregularly 
pinnate.” When young the branches are fringed with fine 
green filaments; these after a time fall off, and are suc¬ 
ceeded by stiff spines, so that it looks like another plant. 
In its young state it presents a beautiful object in the water. 
If other Algte are put into a bason of water with the Spo- 
rochnoidete they change colour and decompose. (The cut at 
page 230, is of I), aculeata.) 
ARTHROCLADIA. 
“ Frond thread-like, cellular, with an articulated tubular 
axis, nodose; the nodes producing whorls of delicate-jointed 
filaments. Fructification, pedicellate moniliform pods, borne 
on the filaments, and containing, at maturity, a string of 
elliptic spores. Name, from two words signifying a joint 
and a branch.” 
Arthrocladia villosa (Hairy).—“ Rather rare ; summer 
and autumn. It is an elegant weed, slender and graceful, 
having ” several fronds from the same base ; six inches to 
nearly three feet long. Mr. Hassall, who discovered it in 
Scotland, observed, that fresh specimens, when spread upon 
paper, rendered it transparent, as if it had been touched 
with oil. It adheres well to paper, and, when gracefully 
arranged, makes an elegant specimen for the herbarium; 
one which was sent to me from Devonshire looks like a 
Weeping Willow.” 
SPOROCHUUS. 
“ Frond filiform, cellular. Fructification, lateral-crested, 
, stalked receptacles. Name, from a seed and wool, because 
tufts of fibres accompany the fructification.” 
Sporochuus pedunculatus (Flower-stalked).—On rocks 
in deep water; rare; annual; summer and autumn. A 
beautiful and curious-looking weed, with its light and 
graceful branches. 
CARPOMITRA. 
“ Frond linear, dichotomous, llat-ribbed, olivaceous. 
Fructification, mitriform; receptacles terminating the 
branches, composed of horizontal branching filaments, 
whorled round a vertical axis, and producing elliptic oblong 
seeds. The name is from two Greek words signifying 
mitre-fruit.” 
ORDER 3.—LA M IN ART AC ILF. 
i 
“ Olive-coloured Sea Weeds, whose spores are superficial, 
either forming indefinite cloud-like patches, or covering the j 
whole surface of the frond.” 
1. ALARIA ESCULENTA (Eatable). 
“ Name, ala, a wing, from the winged base of the frond; 
on rocks; common in Scotland and Ireland, also in the 
West of England. The midrib is eaten in Ireland, Scot¬ 
land, and the Faroe Islands.” 
2. LAMINARIA. 
Laminaria digitata (Finger-like).—“ Stem woody, cy¬ 
lindrical, gradually tapering, expanding into a leathery, 
roundish, oblong frond, deeply cleft into many linear seg¬ 
ments. In deep water, common.” It is very striking, after 
a storm, to see the coast for miles strewed with these large 
i plants ; their woody stems and long tufts of shining fronds 
| are so foreign looking. They come ashore laden with 
! treasures for the diligent naturalist; so many of the smaller 
j Algte are parasitic upon them, and especially IJelesseria alata, 
I whose crimson tufts must make a beautiful contrast with 
the dark weed which bears them when both are floating in i 
■ some deep recess of ocean. Zoophytes, too, abound upon ( 
| the stalks and roots of L. digitata . I have seen Serlularia 
j operculata so clustering upon them that the original stalk 
: was lost sight of, and the Zoophytes gave it the appearance 
! of a brush for cleaning bottles. Shells, too, are often to be 
found amongst the roots. The u'ay in which the perennial 
species of Laminaria grow is very remarkable; they yearly 
change their fronds. “ The young frond arises at the base 
of the old one, and, as it enlarges, pushes it off.” The rapid 
growth of some of the large weeds is astonishing, and proofs 
of it are recorded by Dr. P. Neill, in an article on Fuci. A 
beacon was about to be erected upon the Carr Rock, in the 
Frith of Forth. Mr. Stephenson, Civil Engineer, made the 
observations for Dr. Neill, and sent specimens of the weeds 
to him. “ The Carr Rock is at the entrance of the Frith; 
it is about twenty feet wide and sixty long, and it is un¬ 
covered only at the lowest ebb of spring-tide. When the 
operations were begun it was clothed with large Sea Weeds, 
especially the Great Tangle, L. digitata, and Alaria esculenta, j 
or Badderlocks. In the course of 1813, the workmen sue- 1 
ceeded in clearing and levelling a considerable portion of 
the foundation of the intended building, but in the beginning 
of November, operations were abandoned for the winter. 
At this time the rocks, by pick and axe, had been made 
quite bare; the SeaWeeds had been cut away, the roots I 
trampled, and much of the rocks cliiseffed, so that the very 
stumps had been cleared away. On returning to the rock, j 
in May, 181-1, to resume operations, it was matter of no 
small surprise to find the rock as completely covered with 
large Sea Weeds as when they first landed on it, though 
little more than six months had elapsed since they left it 
quite bare. Many specimens of Alaria esculenta measured 
six feet in length ; the specimens of common Tangle were 
about two feet in length. The specimens of both were taken 
from that part of the rock which had been dressed with the 
pick and chisel before the workmen left it in autumn, so 
that they had evidently grown from the seeds winch must 
have attached themselves to the rock after the middle of 
November, during a whiter which was one of great severity.” 
2. L. Bulbosa (Bulbed).—On rocky shores, in deep 
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