BULLETIN OF THE TORREY BOTANICAL Cuvs. 
Vol. VI, No, 49.] [New York, Jan. & Feb., 1879. 
§ 285, FRESH WATER ALGAE. 
Synopsis of Discoveries and Researches in 1878. 
The subjoined list is prepared on the plan of those I have here- 
tofore presented. The species are arranged in accordance with the 
nomenclature of Dr. Rabenhorst, whose system I follow, not that it 
is wholly above criticism—no system is—but bécause it takes in the 
entire field, not merely sections, and is therefore more complete and 
comprehensive than any other. 
Some of the plants described may prove to be only varieties, not 
distinct species, and some merely different forms or stages of plant- 
development, such as my own recent observations have satisfied me 
are of frequent occurrence; but these we will not discuss in the 
present paper, which is simply designed to record the plants found 
to correspond with species and varieties already described by Euro- 
pean authors, and a few which, I believe, are quite new. The addi- 
tions would have been comparatively few but for the invaluable aid 
of volunteers. . 
In early spring, Capt. J. Donnell Smith of Baltimore, Md., and 
Mr. C. F. Austin, of Closter, N. J., made a tour through Florida for 
the purpose of collecting cryptogams. Nearly two months were 
spent in this expedition and with very satisfactory results. On his 
way back, Capt. Smith stayed some time in South Carolina and in 
the Eastern part of Virginia, and, during the months of July and Au- 
gust, he extended his investigations into Western Maryland and West 
Virginia. Mr. H. W. Ravenel, of South Carolina, also went to Florida, 
and made collections, principally in the vicinity of Gainesville; later 
he explored the neighborhood of Darien, Ga. ‘To Dr. Beardslee of 
Ohio, and to Dr. Hobbe of Iowa, I am also indebted for interest- 
ing specimens from the vicinity of their homes. Adding all of 
these gatherings to my own, I had nearly two thousand parcels to 
examine. As might have been expected, many were duplicates, 
and many similar to those heretofore noticed, but about 125 were 
new discoveries‘for the United States. These are noted in the fol- 
lowing list. : 
The literature of Fresh Water Algae received some valuable 
additions during the year which it is proper to mention here. Dr, 
V. B. Wittrock and Mr. Otto Nordstedt, of Sweden, have issued 
a number of valuable memoirs ; among these there is one by the 
former on “ The Spore formation of the Mesocarpeae, and especially 
of the new genus Gonatonema’”; and another on the development 
of systematic arrangement of Pithophoraceae, a new order of algae, 
which deserves a special notice. Dr. Wittrock found among some 
tropical algae a class which, in its general features, resembles the 
common Cladophora, but is-distinguished from it by having many 
‘cells somewhat swollen, short, and rich in chlorophyll; these are 
most frequently alternated, in a regular manner, with the longer 
cylindrical cells. His attention was also drawn to this order of 
plants in the Lily house of the Botanical gardens at Kew, England, 
where the specimens he saw were supposed to have been introduced 
