Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/160

 due to the fact that the air over the earth being cooled and condensed much sooner than that over the sea, the heavier body of atmosphere endeavours to displace the warmer and lighter one. A gentle evaporation is daily taking place from the surface of the sea, by which the air becomes loaded with moisture, remaining suspended until the coolness of evening sets in, when it is deposited on the ground as dew. The water thus obtained from the deep is not pure brine, as might at first sight appear, but is freed from its salts by the process of natural distillation which has been undergone. Similar evaporation also goes on from the surfaces of the Ribble and Wyre, and it is doubtless chiefly owing to the Fylde being almost environed by water, constantly disseminating dew, that its fecundity is not only so great, but also so constant. The following is a list of the seaweeds to be found on the coast:—

MELANOSPERMEÆ OR OLIVE GREEN SEAWEEDS.

Fucus nodosus              Knobbed Wrack "  serratus              Serrated   " "  canaliculatus         Channelled " "  vesiculosus           Bladder    "

Desmarestia aculeata       Spring Desmarestia "      viridis         Green      "

Alaria esculenta           Edible Alaria Laminaria digitata         Tangle "    saccharina        Sweet Laminaria    "     bulbosa           Sea-furbelows Chorda filum               Thread Ropeweed

Dictyosiphon fæniculaceus  Tubular Netweed Asperococcus echinatus     Wooly Rough-weed "      compressus     Compressed

Chordaria flagelliformis   Whiplash weed Mesogloia virescens        Verdant Viscid-weed "    vermicularis      Wormy        "

Cladostephus verticillatus Whorled Cladostephus "      spongiosus     Spongy        " Sphacellaria scoparia      Brown-like Sphacellaria "      plumosa        Feathered     " "      Cirrhosa       Nodular       "