Page:Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - Volume 1.pdf/189

At this season of the year, when all those who delight in a stroll on the sea-shore hasten to some favourite watering-place, there will probably be among this happy number some of the readers of the Science Gossip, and possibly some few who do not hold seaweeds in such utter contempt as to consider the occupation of collecting and drying them unworthy of their attention.

I have not unfrequently met with people who, although expressing the greatest admiration for these exquisite productions, rarely take the trouble to collect them; because, as they say, "seaweeds are so difficult to obtain in good condition, and very troublesome to preserve;" also, "that to dry them so as to retain their proper colour and appearance when found in their native element, requires so much time and such a variety of apparatus." All this is very true; but can any branch of science be practised, even as an amusement, without engrossing time, and requiring the employment of tools or apparatus of some kind? However, for the benefit of those who may be disposed to dabble a little in the collecting and preserving of British Marine Algæ this season, I purpose herewith to give them a few plain directions as to the most effective method of cleaning and preserving the plants which are most likely to be found by those who collect during the ebb and flow of the tide, or who confine their search to the shores, or rock-pools, or among the mass of weeds which are cast up during rough weather.

Most of the green and olive seaweeds are readily found, either in a growing state, or cast ashore, from high-water mark to extreme low-water mark, but nearly every species of red weed grows submerged, and a vast number of them in deep water only; so that, unless they are obtained by the troublesome process of dredging, it is seldom indeed that the unskilled collector meets with good specimens of red plants, unless he have the good fortune to find them soon after they are cast ashore; their beauty being quickly impaired by contact with decaying matter, and their colours destroyed by exposure to the sunlight.

Seaweed gathering, like everything else, requires practice and experience, and beginners must not be disappointed because they do not find rarities or fine specimens whenever and wherever they may seek for them. As a general rule, without reference to the season of the year, the best time for collecting is at the spring tides, or during the change of the moon; in other words, to commence a day or two before the full of the moon, and continue until two or three days after the new moon, because at this period the tide recedes much further, so that a considerable space is laid bare; on rocky shores many rare plants are, at these times, frequently met with. For instance, I may mention the Castle Rocks at Hastings, which are unapproachable except in a boat at ordinary low-water mark, and then few but the commonest red weeds are found growing upon them; and yet at the lowest spring tides I have waded out to these rocks, and on the outer side of several of them I have found the rare Rhodymenia Palmetta, and other choice red plants in tolerable abundance.

As to what species of plants are to be found in particular localities, I may observe, that with the exception of some few, which are pretty nearly certain to make their appearance regularly, I have never found all the same species of plants in the same localities for two consecutive seasons. Arthrocladia, for instance, an early summer olive plant, was very abundant one season at Hastings, and yet for three years afterwards I did not find a single specimen; hence, I may say, I go out collecting without having the slightest idea what class or character of plants I may meet with, but because of this uncertainty I always make preparations for a plentiful harvest, so that upon my return home I may lose no unnecessary time in cleaning and displaying my "treasures of the deep." Several of our popular watering-places, such as Brighton, Margate, and Hastings, have been spoken of as not very likely localities for the production of find seaweeds, still I have rarely searched the shores at these places without finding some interesting specimens. But of all the shores I have ever visited, none can bear a comparison, either for beauty or variety of species, with the south coast of Devon; especially that rocky part which commences near the Breakwater at Plymouth, and so on for a few miles down the shore as far as the famed Mewstone Rock, the nooks and little bays of which abound with many rare species of seaweed. Again, the shore around Mount Edgcumbe and Cawsand Bay are rich in particular species; and then, if the collector hires a boat at Plymouth, and sails over to Cawsand, a delightful walk of half an hour or so, through the picturesque lanes and over the hill, will bring him to Whitsand Bay, one of the most magnificent scenes on the British shores, and one of the most productive localities with which I am acquainted. It was here that I met with the rare Desmarestia ligulata (usually a deep-water species) growing on rocks at extreme low-water mark, and indeed many other rarities too numerous to mention.

A few words must suffice to inform the collector that in some of the shallow rock-pools on the Hastings shore, between the White Rock and the Archway, he will frequently find that pretty little green plant Bryopsis plumosa in tolerable abundance. Care