152 Rhodora [AUGUST 
one plant in a wet pasture with the common rose-flowered form, 
Sherborn, June 18, 1913, comm. by Miss M. L. Loomis.— M. L. 
FERNALD. 
AN IMPORTANT PUBLICATION ON THE BroLoGy or Woop's HoLE.— 
Vol. XXXI of the Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries, U. S. Depart- 
ment of Commerce and Labor, has just been issued, 860 large octavo 
pages, with 274 charts and maps; all devoted to the fauna and flora 
of the Wood's Hole region. Naturally, the greater part is taken by 
the zoological side, but the botanical part, by Dr. Bradley M. Davis, 
is the most important paper on the marine algae of this coast that has 
appeared for some time. In part 2 is the “census” of the marine 
flora of the Wood’s Hole region, giving all the species of which there 
is authentic record, 240 in all, with full particulars of station, eto.; 
this list may be considered fairly complete, and of much value to 
students of the region. Part 1, the "survey", will attract more 
general interest, as it gives the results of dredging at 458 stations in 
Buzzard's Bay and Vineyard Sound, in the years 1903, 1904, 1905, 
and a few in 1907; while the distribution of 38 of the principal species 
of algae is shown on charts. A uniform outline chart is used, the 
chart for each species being marked with stars, each showing the place 
of a dredging where the species was found. This graphic representa- 
tion of the distribution of a species, certainly new in its application to 
algae, and probably to plants in general, is so much superior to any- 
thing that could be shown by descriptions or tables, that it is likely to 
be adopted generally when the data are sufficient to justify it. There 
is also a somewhat similar representation of the seasonal changes, 
for a period of 15 months, of the algae growing at various levels on 
a small group of rocks, * Spindle Rocks"; we can recall no record of 
any similar series of observations. The tendency of recent local 
reports in Europe is towards observations of all the conditions of the 
species recorded, and away from the mere list; Dr. Davis' work will 
rank with the best of the kind. By botanists who favor uniformity of 
nomenclature, a government publication like this, with the nomencla- 
ture conforming to the Vienna rules, will be hailed with much satisfac- 
tion.— Frank S. Corus, North Eastham, Massachusetts. 
Vol. 15, no. 175, including pages 117 to 136, was issued 1 July, 1918. 
