I'.'S SUMMAKY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



New Antarctic Genera.* — J. Cardot gives an account of two new 

 genera from the Magellan region, Nmroloma and Hygrodicranum, 

 found in a collection made by C. Skottsberg and F. Halle. Neuroloma 

 belongs to the Andreaeaceae, and resembles Ohasmocalyx, a sub-genus of 



Andresea, except in the leaves, which are nerveless, but have on each 

 side a characteristic intramarginal limb, 2 to :! cells thick, composed of 

 narrow elongate thickened cells. The plant was found by P. Halle in 

 Tierra del Fuego. Hygrodicranum is also characterized by the peculiar 

 structure of its leaves, which are bistratose in the lamina, and which in 

 the lower half of the nerve show in transverse section an arc of 3 to 4 

 compressed eurycysts covered above and below 7 by a stratum of stereids 

 or substereids and a distinct epidermal layer. One sterile tuft of it was 

 found by C. Skottsberg in the Falkland Islands. 



Thallophyta. 



Algee. 



(By Mrs. E. S. Gepp.) 



Phylogeny of Algae, f — J. Brunnthaler has made a careful study of 

 the phylogeny of the Algae, and points out that many illogical errors 

 have been arrived at by authors who have made the recent forms of 

 too much importance. He discusses the whole question, and reaches 

 the following conclusions. 1. The chromophylls of the Rhodophytae, 

 Phaeophytae, Zygophytae, and Chlorophyceae, are adaptations to the con- 

 ditions of light which obtained at the time of their origin (complementary 

 adaptation). 2. The recent Flagellatae are terminal members of one of 

 the oldest series or stock of the organisms ; a direct relationship with the 

 recent Algae is not proven. 3. The Rhodophytae must be regarded phylo- 

 genetically as the oldest group of Algae ; their origin is in the primitive 

 ancestors of the Flagellatae. 4. The Phaeophytae are the next youngest 

 group, partly a side-branch of the Rhodophytae, partly descendants of 

 Flagellate-like organisms. 5. The Zygophytae arise from ancestors of 

 the Flagellatae. The Peridiniales show comparatively the closest re- 

 lationship with the recent Flagellatae. 6. The Chlorophyceae are the 

 youngest stage of development, arising, like the Phaeophyceae, partly 

 from the Rhodophytae, and partly from the ancestors of the Flagellatae. 

 A table of descent explains the views of the author. He states that at 

 present it is not possible to say which of the Chlorophycere and Plneo- 

 phyceae are derived from the Rhodophytae or Flagellatae respectively, 

 and he thinks that possibly a study of the cells may throw light on this 

 point The foregoing conclusions are the outcome of an attempt to 

 delimit the different series of Algae as the results of external factors, 

 principally light, on the ancestors of the Flagellatae. 



Nutriment of Algae. I — 0. Richter gives an account of the re- 

 sults arrived at by himself and others in the nutrition of Algae, so far as 



* Rev. Bryolog., xxxviii. (1911) pp. 49-52 (figs.), 

 t Biol. Centralbl., xxxi. (1911) pp. 225-36. 



j Internat. Rev. gesarnt. Hydrobiol. u. Hydrogr., ii. (Leipzig, 1911). See also 

 Biol. Centralbl., xxxi. (1911) pp. 316-18. 



