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.rKDSAT 



129 



Oil the Diatoinaceaei of Otago, New Zealand. 

 By W. Lauder Lin^^y, M.D., F.E.S. Ediab., &e. 



[Eead February 16, 1865,] 



I SHOTTLD not deem tlie following brief list of Otago Diatoms 

 worthy of separate presentation or publication were it not that, 

 insignificant as it is, it forms, so far as I am aware, the first con- 

 tribution that has yet been offered to our knowledge of the Dia- 

 tomacese of our New Zealand possessions. 



The list contains only 110 species* 30 genera and 12 families, 

 and includes only 3 new species, viz. Cymhella lAnisayana Grev., 

 Stauroneis scapTitdceformis Grev., and ^S'. rotundata Grev, Consi- 

 dering the newness of the field of research, the comparative paucity 

 of new forms (2*72 per cent, of the whole) may appear incom- 

 mensurate and extremef; but this scantiness will become at 

 least less surprising when w^e bear in mind Berkeley's prediction, 

 that foreign Diatoms will be found to exhibit ''''few new species^ and 

 certainly no novel forms ^'X' However, quite as interesting as the 

 discovery of new species and the multiplication of names, is ad- 

 dition to, or improvement of, our knowledge of the geographical 

 range of the lower and more minute forms of vegetation. Even 

 so meagre a list as that which follows does not fail to add to the 

 number of cosmopolites — of British forms occurring in very dis- 

 tant lands, or of species otherwise widely or peculiarly distri- 

 buted. 



Without affixing any value to generalizations based on data so 

 defective, it may yet be here set forth, as among the results of 

 analysis of the following list, that — 



I. The dominant/a^z7/e^ are- J^-^ 3^-;^ 



• 1. Navlculeae 



2. Surirellese • 



II. The dominant genera are — 



1. Navicula • 



2. Pinnularia 



5 38 



5 21 



3. Gomphonema 



^ / Stauroneis 



I- Synedra • 8 



15 



12 



9 



8 



5, Surirella 



6, Epithemia • -• 



7, Cymbella 



-Krcluding varieties. f There are no new t^e tier a 



X Introduction to Crjptogamie Botanj, p. 138. London, 1857. 



I'lMi. PUOC. — BOTANY. VOL. TX. K 



7 



6 

 5 



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