404 SUMMARY OF CUKRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Thallophyta. 



Algae. 

 (By Mbs. E. S. Gepp.) 



Antarctic Phytoplankton.*— L. Mangin gives an account of the 

 phytoplanktou of the Antarctic collected by'the second French Expedition 

 (1908-10). The principal elements are the Diatoraacege ; Peridiniales 

 are rare as compared with their occurrence in the Arctic region ; and a 

 few Schizophycete are found. Of the Peridiniales, Geratium is entirely 

 absent. Of the Diatomacefe, the author records sixteen species from 

 62°-70° S. lat., six of which are described and figured as new to science, 

 and raises the total of species recorded for the Antarctic region to about 

 22<J — a marked contrast to the VM) species recorded for the Arctic 

 region. The most characteristic Antarctic plankton-diatom is Cordhron 

 VaJdii'ise, which occurs in all but one of the French gatherings, often 

 in dominant quantities (in twenty-five gatherings), and even without 

 admixture (in fifteen gatherings). It is essentially an asstival species, 

 abundant from December to April. Other frequent genera are Biddulphia, 

 Coscinodiscus, Emampia, FragUaria, Tludassiosira. The author treats 

 of the seasonal influence, regional variations, and gives a comparison of 

 the floras of the Arctic and Antarctic. In the former, Chsetoceras takes 

 the lead with forty-nine species, while in the Antarctic Coscinodiscus, 

 with eighty-one species, is far ahead of every other genus. 



Phytoplankton from Celebes.f— C. H. Ostenfeld describes a collection 

 of phytoplankton made l)y a Dane, Mr. Justesen, attached to the Dutch 

 Indian Government, who was una])le to identify the species, but made 

 careful drawings of them. From their examination it becomes evident 

 that the plankton of the Boeton Strait is a rich neritic tropical plankton, 

 resembling much the plankton of the Malay Archipelago as known from 

 Cleve's researches, and that of the Gulf of Siam by the author. The 

 list includes 101 species, of which some are new. Xew combinations 

 are also formed. 



Cyanophycese in France.!— H. Coupin writes on the CyanophycejB 

 of France, and complains that though work was done on the group by 

 the older botanists Bornet and Flahault, Gomont, etc., there is now a 

 lack of students of the group. Among the 1128 good species known 

 (752 being European), only 347 are recorded from France ; while of 

 10-4 genera, only fifty are represented. He gives a list of the unrepre- 

 sented genera. Then follows a list of the genera recorded in France, 

 and lists of the species arranged under their respective habitats — 

 terrestrial, arboreal, on rocks, stagnant water, fresh or salt water, etc. 



• Deuxieme Expecl. Antarct. Franc;. (Paris, 1915) 96 pp. (3 pis.). 

 t Dausk. Bot. Arkiv, ii. No. 4 (1915) 18 pp. (10 figs.). See also Bot.Ceutralbl., 

 cxxxi. (1916) pp. 423. 



% Rev. Gen. Bot., xxvii. (Paris, 1915) pp. 50-9. 



