GATHERING  OF  CARRAGEEN  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.  417 
ON  THE  GATHERING  AND  CURING  OF  CARRAGEEN  IN 
MASSACHUSETTS. 
By  G.  Hubert  Bates,  Scituate,  Mass. 
Sub-order  :  Rhodospermese,  family  Spongiocarpese. — Harvey. 
The  generic  name,  Chondrus,  is  characteristic  of  the  substance 
of  the  frond,  being  derived  from  the  Greek  word  signifying  car- 
tilage. 
Habitat :  Rocks  in  the  sea.  Perennial ;  spring.  Root :  a 
disk  throwing  tufts  of  many  fronds,  which  are  from  two  to 
twelve  inches  high,  very  narrow  and  subcylindrical  at  base,  but 
immediately  becoming  flat,  generally  dilating  from  the  base  till 
it  becomes  three  or  four  lines  wide,  and  then  dividing  repeatedly 
and  dichotomously  (by  pairs),  each  division  spreading,  becoming 
narrower  than  the  preceding  one,  and  taking  place  at  shorter 
intervals.  The  summits  are  bifid,  the  segments  varying  greatly 
in  length,  rounded  or  acute,  straight  or  curved,  and  often  twisted 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  the  curled  appearance  denoted  by 
the  specific  name,  crispus.  "  Fructification  roundish  or  roundish- 
oval,  sub-hemispherical  capsules  imbedded  in  the  disk  of  the 
frond,  prominent  on  one  side  and  producing  a  concavity  on 
the  other,  containing  a  mass  of  minute,  roundish,  red  seeds."  Its 
color  is  a  deep  purple-brown,  often  tinged  with  purplish  red, 
paler  at  the  summit,  and  becoming  greenish  and  at  length  yellow- 
ish-white, as  the  season  advances. 
This  is  the  proteus  of  marine  algae.  The  varieties  are  innu-* 
merable,  and  pass  into  one  another  so  insensibly  that  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  define  them.  There  is  great  range  in  regard  to  the 
width  of  the  frond.  Whenever  the  plant  grows  more  or  less  ex- 
posed to  fresh  water,  a  still  greater  change  is  wrought  in  its 
appearance.  The  main  divisions  are  much  broader,  fewer,  and 
exceedingly  irregular,  while  the  margin  and  extremity  are  beset 
with  such  a  vast  number  of  small  segments  that  the  whole  suggests 
the  idea  of  monstrosity.  In  such  specimens  the  frond,  when 
held  between  the  eye  and  the  light,  is  thinner,  more  transparent, 
and  frequently  mottled  vath  green.  It  occasionally  happens 
that  the  margin  is  somewhat  raised,  so  as  to  render  the  frond 
slightly  channelled,  but  seldom  so  much  as  to  allow  of  its  being 
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