BOOKS AND CURRENT LITERATURE 



Western Algae. — There recently appeared the earher numbers of 

 the Publications of the Puget Sound Marine Station, issued under the 

 editorship of Prof. T. C. Frye, of the University of Washington, Direc- 

 tor of the Puget Sound Station, which is located at Friday Harbor, 

 Washington. 



It is fitting that the series should be opened with records of obser- 

 vg,tions and experiments with the big kelps^ of the locality — plants of 

 double interest now that they are recognized as a potential source of 

 potash on a commercial scale. The first paper deals with the rate of 

 the growth of the fronds or leaves of this striking plant. Preliminary 

 experiments soon showed that Nereocystis Avould grow as well when 

 loosened from the natural foothold on the rocks, provided the plants 

 were not carried into imfavorable conditions. Entire plants, and 

 plants with stalks wholly or partly removed, were anchored in various 

 relations in the water and "grew apparently as well as firmly anchored 

 plants." The holdfast serves only to fix the plant in place. The 

 laminae of these plants during the first week of July grew quite rapidly, 

 varying with the stage of development from one eighth of an inch to 

 two and one-fourth inches daily. A second set of experiments, with 

 fronds cut at varying lengths from the bulb, showed an increase in 

 amount of growth with length of frond, thus indicating that the region 

 of growth was not sharply localized. Subsequently it was established 

 that there is little growth in the laminae beyond 2 feet from the bulb, 

 and that the region of maximum elongation is the zone between 3 and 

 6 inches from the float. During the course of these observations it 

 was determined that small fragments of the thallus cut out from the 

 leaves would live and grow for some time. Pieces, some measuring 

 only § inch by j inch, exhibited growth for a period of seven days, at 

 the end of which time the reviewer infers the parts were still living. 

 It was noted that the kelps grew more rapidly on some days than on 

 others. According to records in 1914 the greatest growth was on those 

 days with most wind; since the experiments were conducted in a region 



1 Fallis, Annie L., Growth of the fronds of Nereocystis luetkeana. Pub. Puget 

 Sd. Marine Sta. 1: 1-8. January, 1915. 



48 



