738 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



oogonia were alive, as though in a state of arrest, and capable of ger- 

 minating subsequently. 



Leathesia crispa.* — A. 1). Cotton records the little-known Leathesia 

 crispa Harvey from Swanage, and shows that it is synonymous with 

 L. concinna Kuckuck. The distribution of the alga is remarkable — 

 Alderney, Heligoland, one locality each in England, Scotland, and 

 Ireland, and two in France. A full diagnosis of the species is given in 

 the present paper, together with some interesting notes, which enable a 

 collector to distinguish it in the natural state. It appears to be in- 

 variably epiphytic on narrow forms of Chondrus crispzis. 



Some Errors of Nomenclature in Phseophyceae.f — C. Sauvageau 

 exposes some current errors of spelling connected with Scytosyphon t 

 Litosiphon, and Pylaiella. Though most authors write Scytosiphon 

 lomentarius, the correct representation of the species is S. Lomentaria, 

 as was pointed out by Le Jolis in 1896. Lommtaria was first employed 

 by Lyngbye as a generic name, who in the same work invented Chorda 

 Lommtaria. Greville by an error (in his "Alga? britannicse ") wrote 

 C. lommtaria, and his error was copied by most subsequent algologists. 

 Passing on to Litosiphon, he shows that though Harvey took the trouble 

 to make the derivation clear as meaning small or narrow tube, yet the 

 name is often written Lithosiphon, as if it had something to do with stone. 

 As a fact, the plant is not stony, and does not grow on stone, but is an 

 epiphyte. Then as to Pylaiella, Bory de Saint- Vincent proposed the 

 name of Pilayella in 1823. Five years later he indicated Conferva 

 littoralis L. as the type of the genus, and shortly afterwards corrected 

 the spelling to Pylaiella, stating that he had dedicated it to Bachelot 

 de la Pylaie. From that date till 1896, when Kjellmau revived the 

 name Pylaiella, it was only cited in two printed works. 



North American Algae. — F. S. Collins J gives an account of the 

 little that is known of CEdogonium Huntii Wood (186'.)). He feels 

 fairly certain that it was this species which he had under observation 

 for two years, but which, with its station, was utterly destroyed last 

 year, whilst its fruits were still immature. The terminal hairs of the 

 plant are very peculiar. 



He gives § a' new definition of Kutzing's genus Pilinia, and 

 describes six North American species, two of which occur also in 

 Europe, and two others are new to science ; figures of these latter are 

 supplied. A key is appended to help in the identification of the 

 species. 



He gives descriptions || of two new species of Acrochcetiam .- 

 A. minimum epiphytic on Desmarestia viridis in Massachusetts, and 

 A. Hoytii on Dirtyota dirhotoma in North Carolina. 



Italian Diatoms. If — A. Forti publishes a preliminary list of the 

 fossil diatoms contained in the Miocene deposits of Bergonzano (Reggio 



* Journ. of Bot., xlvi. (1908) pp. 329-331. 



t Journ. de Bot., xxi. (1908) pp. 11-11. 



% Rhodora, x. (1908) pp. 57-8. § Tom. cit., pp. 122-7 (1 pi.). 



|| Tom. cit., pp. 133-5. f Nuov. Notar., xxiii. (1908) pp. 130-33. 



