Bibliogi'aphical Notices. 61 



municated at your solicitation. It would be curious, however, 

 to establish the fact that this Alga has but one form of fructifi- 

 cation : we should then have a perfect confluence and assimila- 

 tion of the two kinds of fruits/^ 



I shall only add, that Dr, Montague showed me his sketches 

 when I was with him last summer, at which time he had not the 

 slightest notion that Mr. Harvey had made similar observations. 

 I am, my dear Sir, yours very faithfully. 



King's ClifFe, Dec. 15, 1843. M. J. BERKELEY. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



Phycologia generalis ; oder Anatomic, Physiologic und Systemkunde der 

 Tange, bearbeitet von F. T. Kiitzing. 4to, tab. 80. Leipzig, 1843. 



Fries remarked in his ' Systema Orbis Vegetabilis,' published in 

 1825, that the study of aquatic Algse was in the same condition as 

 that of Fungi a century, or that of Lichens half a century before. 

 'I'he characters were principally taken from outward form, without 

 proper attention to differences of structure. It was certainly matter 

 of great difficulty to obtain clear views of structure with the older 

 microscopes, and the analyses by Sir W. J. Hooker given in Turner's 

 ' Fuci,' which were admirable for the time, lost a great deal of their 

 sharpness in engraving, and the greater part of the copies of that 

 excellent work do not exhibit them so clearly as might be wished, 

 the difference between early and later impressions being very con- 

 siderable. 



This opinion of the great Swedish mycologist appeared to many 

 harshly expressed, but it was nevertheless not far from truth, as the 

 labours of modern algologists have clearly demonstrated. 



Attention has been drawn to the subject, more especially during 

 the last two or three years, by the memoirs of Decaisne, Chauvin, 

 J. Agardh, Montagne, &c. ; and though these are in many cases ac- 

 companied by admirable analyses, a larger mass of illustrations was 

 most desirable, which is exactly what the work of Kiitzing supplies. 



The figures are admirabl)'^ drawn and engraved by the author him- 

 self, and we can answer for their general correctness from having had 

 the advantage of inspecting a large quantity of precisely similar ana- 

 lyses in the herbarium of Dr. Montagne. The engraving is so mi- 

 nute, that frequently it is really useful to examine it with the help of 

 a lens. The illustrations are very various, entering into the most 

 minute details of structure both of the frond and fruit, and where 

 possible of the germination, and they present such a mass of facts 

 and such valuable materials for students as perhaps were never be- 

 fore collected in a single volume. 



It is exactly analogous to the work of Corda on Fungi, having the 

 same excellences and the same faults. The text in most cases does 

 not answer one's expectation so fully as the plates would promise. 

 The arrangement on the whole is good and natural ; the prefatory 



