90 i Rhodora [APRIL 
profitable for observers farther east to make careful search for this 
species so little known in our New England flora. 
A seemingly overlooked record for this plant is that of the late 
Prof. L. N. Johnson,' who observed it in the sand along the edge of 
Mill River, near Samp Mortar Rock, Fairfield. This station is sev- 
eral miles inland and at an elevationof about twenty-five feet. Within 
my own experience it is confined to the coastal plain, and never in 
strictly sandy soil. 
BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT. 
COLLECTING SEAWEEDS IN THE TROPICS. 
[Tue conditions under which collecting must be done vary much in differ- 
ent regions, and perhaps in no department is the difference more marked than 
with algae. 'The following notes, though not an addition to our knowledge 
of the botany of New England, may yet be of interest to New England 
botanists. They are in a letter from Mrs. C. E. Pease of Malden, describing 
the experiences of herself and her sister, Miss Eloise Butler of Minneapolis, 
Minn., on visits to the island of Jamaica, the chief object of the visits being 
the collection of algae. — F. S. C.] 
SoMETIMES the weeds were at long distances from the shore, yet 
growing in shallow water in eel grass or on coral reefs and ledges. 
Most of our seaweeding was done from boats rowed by two or three 
strong experienced boatmen. We would be rowed out to the reefs or 
to the shallow places overgrown with grass, the water even there 
being up to our waists; then jump from the boat into the water, to 
fish about for our weeds. Of course we always wore bathing suits 
while seaweeding, and boy’s thick hip rubber boots. On the reefs 
or by the ledges the waves were often strong enough to take us off 
our feet. ‘Then we would cling closely together, one holding on to 
the other while she plunged in for the weeds. Even then we would | 
sometimes be washed from our footing. The boatmen would be busy 
keeping the boat from being dashed on the rocks, and stand ready to 
assist us back into the boat, often with the greatest difficulty. 
Even if the weeds grew near land, often the shores were so precip- 
itous that to reach the weeds we must row to them. 
Avrainvillea longicaulis, at Montego Bay, grew embedded in mud 
among eel grass in shallow water near a small island consisting of a 
1 Bull. Torr. Club, xix: 89. 
