ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 199 



and tap water should be allowed to run for a moment to avoid the in- 

 troduction of undesirable salts. If the water be too hard it can be made 

 soft by growing Chara in it. Bacterial decomposition is best prevented 

 by introducing only a small amount of material, not more than one cubic 

 inch to the gallon. A little Utricularia will clear away undesirable 

 animal life in the water. In the case of filamentous algae good results 

 have been obtained by strewing a layer of washed sea-sand on the bottom 

 of the vessel. When the algai disappear the culture should not be thrown 

 out, for the forms usually reappear after a time. Mud and sticks from 

 spots where alga? have been noticed may be brought into the laboratory 

 in midwinter and soon yield vigorous cultures. By means of these cul- 

 tures it is possible to study questions of periodicity in algse, as well as 

 their development, and to have at hand at all times a rich material for 

 the use of students. 



British Marine Algae.* — E. M. Holmes exhibited at the Botanical 

 Society of Edinburgh specimens of Fucus inflates from Lerwick, Shet- 

 land, and Colpomenia sinuosa from the English Channel. He gave a 

 short account of the invasion of the English shores by G. sinuosa, and 

 of the damage which it had done to the oyster beds of France. 



Marine Algae of Dominica. f — S. Grieve gives a list of twenty species 

 of marine algae from the island of Dominica, which constitutes the first 

 record from that island. The specimens were named by E. M. Holmes, 

 who has added a few short notes. 



Japanese Algae. J — K. Okamura has published two more parts of his 

 valuable Icones of Japanese algae. In them the following species are 

 figured both in habit and structure •.—Hypnea variabilis sp. n., H. Sai- 

 dana Holmes, Peyssonnelia involvens Zanard., Laurencia dendroida J. Ag., 

 Gelidium rigidum Grev., Hypnea musciformis Lamour., Laurencia con- 

 cinna Mont., Eucheuma spinosumJ. Ag., Halymenia formosa Harv., Poly- 

 opes Polyideoides Okam., Hyalosiphonia csespitosa Okain., g. et. sp. n., 

 and Valonia confer voides Harv. The text is in English and Japanese. 



Fresh-water Algae in Nature.§— F. E. Fritsch and F. Rich have 

 pnblished the results of their five years observation of the Fish Pond, 

 Abbot's Leigh, near Bristol. The object of their study was to obtain 

 data concerning the periodicity of the algal flora, but they soon found 

 that valuable sidelights were cast on other important problems. In the 

 present paper they discuss the general consideration of the physical 

 features of the pond and of the meteorological data ; the more important 

 constituents of the flora both cryptogamic and phanerogamic ; general 

 consideration of the life-cycle in the pond ; general consideration of re- 

 production in the pond ; and epiphytic forms. Under summary and 

 general conclusions the authors give a full resume of their results. They 

 find that the algal flora of the Fish Pond, Abbot's Leigh, is dominated 



* Trans. Proc. Bot. Soc. Edinburgh, xxiv. (1909) p. vii. 



t Tom. cit., pp. 7-12. 



% Icones of Japanese AlgEB, ii. Nos. 2-3 (Tokyo, 1909) pp. 21-61 (pis. 56-65). 



§ Proc. Bristol Nat. Soc, ser. 4, ii. pt. 2 (1909) pp. 27-54^(pl. and charts). 



