EUCHEUMA SPINOSUM, 'lg., of Malacca, yields part of the agar-agar of commerce. The plants and their synonyms which yield the com mercial agar-agar are as under :— Eucheuma spinosum, Ag. Gigartina spinosa, Grew.
Fucus spinosus, Linn. Plocaria candida, Nees.
F. tenax. Gracillaria tenax.
Gigartina tenax, Turner. G. spinosa.
Bulung, JAY Agar-agar . . . MALAY.
Dongi dongi, . . . MAC. Karang, gajor-karang, „ Plocaria candida, Nees, yields the Ceylon moss ; and the whole thallus of this one of the algm is sometimes imported from Ceylon into Britain, and used there for dressing silk goods. The Malay name of agar-agar is also given to the Gracillaria spinosa, likewise one of the algm, of the order Rhodymeniacem, and seems to have as synonyms Gigartina tenax, also Gracillaria tenax, also Fucus tenax of Turner. Mr. Williams and the Honourable Mr. Morrison say of the Gigartina tenax, that the C'ainese people collect this sea-weed on the coast to a great extent. It is boiled, and the trans parent glue obtained is brushed upon a porous kind of paper called sha-chi, which it renders nearly transparent. It is also used as a size for
stiffening silks and gauze, and is extensively em ployed in the manufacture of lanterns and in the preparation of paper for lattices and windows. This and other kinds of fuci are boiled down to a jelly by the islanders on the south, and exten sively used for food (Williams, p. 275). The Honourable Mr. MorrisA says of the Gracillaria tenax, the Fucus tenax of Turner, about 27,000 pounds of it are annually imported into Canton from the provinces of Foh-kien and Tchi kiang, and sold for 6d. to 8d. the pound. Mr. Neill thinks that the gummy substance, called chin-chou or hai-tsai in China and Japan, may be composed of this substance. ..Windows made of slips of bamboos, and crossed diagonally, have frequently their interstices wholly filled with the transparent glue of hai-tsai.—Morrison, Comp. Summ.; Williams.