266 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



ledge of Dr. Schmitz's methods, and of his published work, 

 I think those who take this adverse view are at all events 

 not justified in their fears by the past, and ought to reserve 

 them until the publication of Dr. Schmitz's book. No one 

 can deny his extraordinary skill and sound judgment in 

 the discrimination of obscure forms, and most British phyco- 

 logists are personally indebted to him for the exercise of 

 these gifts. In his Kleinere Beitrage the most interesting 

 of the short papers is a discussion of the systematic position 

 of the Bangiacece called forth by Prof. Johnson. In the first 

 cited of the papers on genera of Floiddece, that devoted to 

 Lophothalia, Dr. Schmitz disentangles a peculiarly difficult 

 systematic puzzle and founds four new genera, viz.: Wrigh- 

 tiella, Murrayclla, Lophocladia, and Wilsoncsa. He clears 

 up a like obscurity in his paper on Microthamnion J. Ag. = 

 Seirosp07-a Harv. Dr. Heydrich, whose paper I have placed 

 next, also describes a new genus of much interest with 

 Schmitzian precision. 



To return to Dr. Schmitz's studies of genera, the most 

 interesting of all is his paper on Actinococctis, in which he 

 engages in a polemic with Reinke. The subject is the 

 existence or not of this vexed trenus. Schmitz in his list 

 of genera of FloridecE records Actinococcus as a good genus, 

 and Reinke in his Algenflora der ivestlichen Ostsee recognises 

 it also on the ground of letters received from Schmitz. Now, 

 however, Reinke has become doubtful of the independence 

 of Actinococctis, and, as he puts it, "in agreement with the 

 majority of phycologists " is inclined to see in this genus 

 only the nemathecium of Phyllophora Brodicei. This was 

 certainly a daring deed of Reinke, since on just such a point 

 as this I fancy most phycologists would consult their safety 

 by agreeing with Schmitz, in whose particular line of work 

 the matter certainly comes. Dr. Schmitz exhibits talents 

 of debate as well as resources of knowledge in the discus- 

 sion, and the majority of phycologists, wherever they may 

 have stood before, must now be convinced. The phrase 

 about this " majority " evidently has rankled and has borne 

 fruit in a return compliment about " ein elegantes Bilder- 

 werk " and " elegante Tafeln," which admirers of Reinke's 



