418 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Fresh-water Algas.* — J. Comere has written a book on the fresh- 

 water algse in France with a view to encouraging the study of the subject 

 among amateur botanists. The first chapter treats of their morphology, 

 biology, and classification. The second, of their habitats and manner of 

 collection, their preparation and microscopic examination. The third 

 chapter is devoted to the systematic treatment of more than 300 of the 

 most widely distributed species. Keys to the genera are given, and the 

 short specific diagnoses are given in key form. Occasionally condensed 

 keys to the species are also given. The book is illustrated by seventeen 

 plates, each species described in the text being figured. 



Periodicity of British Lake Phytoplankton.t — ^Y. and CI. S. West 

 publish their investigations on the periodicity of the phytoplankton of 

 Ennerdale Water, Wastwater, Windermere, and Lochs Lomond, Katrine, 

 Lubnaig and Earn. A list of the phytoplankton of each lake is given 

 in tabular form, and the general conclusions are summed up at the end. 

 Descriptions of seven new species are given. 



Periodic Pond-flora. J— J. Murray describes the annual history of a 

 periodic pond in the neighbourhood of Glasgow. He studied it from 

 1902-1907. It has neither inlet nor outlet, and contains water only 

 between November and May or June. And yet the author shows that 

 it possesses a permanent fauna and flora, chiefly microscopic, with 

 sporadic immigrants. The permanent denizens begin their development 

 at the first entry of water, that is, during the coldest season, when the 

 temperature is little above freezing point. 



Plankton of the Rhine.§ — Ft. Kolkwitz gives an account of the 

 plankton of the Rhine from its sources to its mouth. His investiga- 

 tions are mainly quantitative. The Kammer-plankton of tlie upper 

 Rhine is derived from mountain streams and lakes. That of the lower 

 Rhine is derived principally from the River Main. The influence of the 

 geological formations, the profile of the river-bed, the nature of the 

 river banks — none of these affect the development of the plankton so 

 much as stagnation of the water in conjunction with chemical con- 

 ditions. Various tables of local floras are given, and one is added 

 showing the thirty stations at which the samples were collected, with 

 dates, altitudes, etc. 



Swiss Fresh- water Algae. || — S. Limanowska gives an account of 

 the algal flora of the River Limmat from the Lake of Zurich to below 

 the waterworks. Beginning with an historical account of the potamo- 

 plankton, he describes his methods of collecting and determining the 

 material. The list includes 255 alga?, with one new species and six new 

 varieties. The distribution and the ecological conditions are discussed, 

 also the periodicity and the mud-flora. 



Swiss Lake Alg-se.H — G. 8teiner discusses the algal flora of seven 

 lakes on the Faulhorn range in the Bernese Oberland. After enumerating 



* Les Algues d'Eau Douce. Paris : Klincksieck (1912) 113 pp. (17 pis.), 

 t Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) xl. (1912) pp. 395 432 (1 pi.). 

 X Intemat. Rev. Ges. Hvdrobiol. u. Hydrogr., iv. (1911) pp. 800-10. 

 § Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., xx.^j. (1912) pp. 205-26. 

 II Arch. Hydrobiol. u. Planktonk., vii. (1911) 149 pp. (figs.), 

 f Intern. Rev. Ges. Hydrobiol. u. Hydrogr., iv. Biol. Suppl. (1911)pp 1-72 (figs.). 



