82 University of California Publications in Bota)iy [Vol. 6 



No. 836 of Fascicle XVII, of the Phycotheca Boreali-Americana, 

 under the name of Scinaia furcellata forma complanata. He states 

 that : ' ' The frond is flattened throughout even when quite fresh ' ' and 

 suggests that it may possibly he the same as Isymenia angusta J. G. 

 Agardh (1899, p. 66). Collins (1906, p. 110) reprinted the diagnosis 

 and remarks later in a botanical journal. Cotton (1907, p. 260) raised 

 this variety to a species. 



The last species to be added to the genus is a plant from the Gulf 

 of California to which M. A. Howe (1911, p. 500, fig. 1 and pi. 28) 

 has given the name of Scinaia latifrons. It is a large and broad, 

 flattened species with cystocarps largely marginal. 



At present, then, the genus Scinaia is credited with six species and 

 three varieties, as follows: Sc. furcellata with varr. undulata, sitb- 

 costata, and australis, Sc. complanata, Sc. latifrons, Sc. carnosa, Sc. 

 Salicornioides, and Sc. moniliformis. It is the intention of the writer 

 to examine into the structure and the status of each of these so far 

 as possible. 



II. MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUE 



The writer has been gathering together materials of what usually 

 passes for Scinaia for many years in connection with a study of the 

 puzzling forms of the California coast. His impressions have varied 

 from those of recognizing a few widely distributed species to those of 

 very considerably multiplying the number of species to be recognized. 

 Comparatively little study, however, had been made of the details of 

 structure until very recently, partly because of the difficulty of obtain- 

 ing good results from dried material. Most of the materials at hand 

 consist of dried specimens and it is difficult to make specimens resume 

 their original form after being dried under even slight pressure. 

 The material is mostly Californian, on which coast there are four or 

 five well-marked species or varieties of Scinaia^hke plants, only one 

 of which has been seen in living condition by the writer. The writer 

 has also collected considerable living material of Scinaia in the vicinity 

 of Woods Hole, IVIassachusetts, and has received dried specimens from 

 others. There is a fair amount of dried material available from 

 Florida and from the IMediterranean. Other specimens are individual 

 and scattering, but there are available good dried and formalin speci- 

 mens from the Hawaiian Islands. Practically all of this material has 



