H. BOTANY AND HORTICULTUEE. 287 



known instance of the occurrence of the conifera, have proved 

 to be really stems of huge alga?, vastly exceeding in size the 

 ordinary algae of the present day. It is said, however, that 

 there are forms in the antarctic seas that exhibit the nearest 

 approach to them, some of these being twenty feet high, and 

 as thick as a man's thigh. These have not unfrequently been 

 collected by mariners in those seas as. fuel, under the belief 

 that they were drift-wood. 13 A, Oct. 22, 16. 



FtTCrJS SEKRATUS IN NORTH AMERICA. 



The announcement is made in the Canadian Naturalist of 

 the discovery by Mr. Camp, on the shores of the harbor of 

 Pictoir, Nova Scotia, of living specimens of a species of sea- 

 weed known as Fucus serratus. This plant, though known 

 upon the shores of Northern Europe, had not been authenti- 

 cated, at the time of the publication of Dr. Harvey's work on 

 the American sea-weeds, as occurring in North America, and 

 botanists will be interested to learn that it is actually found 

 on this side of the Atlantic. The specimens referred to were 

 cast on the shore with other sea- weeds, and others were sub- 

 sequently found growing sparingly, attached to the rock. It 

 is, however, thought not improbable that the plant may have 

 been brought in ballast by British ships, and that it is not 

 actually a native of the New World. Its occurrence at Mar- 

 blehead, if the statement be correct, would, however, militate 

 against the latter idea. Canad. Naturalist, ^^.,1870, 351. 



MURRAY ON BLIGHT IN PLANTS. 



At a meeting of the scientific committee of the Horticul- 

 tural Society of London, Mr. Andrew Murray read a paper 

 on the blight of plants, in which he combated the ordinary 

 theory that the lower forms of vegetable organisms, which 

 constitute ordinary blight, are developed from germs exist- 

 ing in the plant or floating in the air. 12 A, 89, July 13, 210. 



NEW DISEASE OF THE COFFEE-PLANT. 







According to M. J. Berkeley, a disease has lately appeared 

 in the coffee plantations of Ceylon which threatens to be- 

 come of serious import. The albumen of the berry is devel- 

 oped sufficiently to present the usual convoluted appearance, 

 but the growth appears to be suddenly arrested. As a re- 



