70 SUMMARY OF CUKUENT RESEARCH Ks RELATING TO 



Contributions to the Moss-flora of the Pyrenees. — F. Kern 

 {Jahresb. SchJes. Ges. VaterJ. Kultur, 1914, 34-40 ; see also Bot. 

 CentralbL, 19ls, 137, 329). An historical account of bryological in- 

 vestigation in the Pyrenees. The species of the mountainous region are 

 mostly the same as in Prussian Silesia. Unfortunately the Spanish side 

 is too little known, the author recording only forty-two Bryales and ten 

 HepaticR?. A new species is Grimmia pyrmaica, a dwarf species \^'ith the 

 habit of a Weisia and allied to G, caespitiria. 



Contributions to the Moss-flora of the Salzburg Alps. — F. Kern 



{JiiJirezh. Scliles. Ges. Vaterl. Kalttir., 1915, 24-35 ; see also Bot. 

 ( 'cntraU)}., 1918, 137, 329). Many species are recorded. A new variety 

 of Hijynenosfomum tortile var. aJpinum is described. Mnium Bltjtii is a 

 new record for the district. 2'richostomum Fleisclieri Bauer is regarded 

 as belongino- to Tortelht tortuosa. E. S. G. 



'&' 



Thallophyta. 



Alg-se. 



Ionic Phase of the Sea. — A. H. Church {The New FhytoJogist, 18, 

 1919, 239-47). An account of the physico-chemical constitution of the 

 sea. with special reference to the fact that the sea is the sole food- 

 solution of the marine phytoplankton and algse, and is the medium in 

 which all the cytoplasmic organisms of the sea have been evolved. The 

 generally accepted hypothesis, that living plasma originated directly 

 from sea-water itself, is discussed. Protoplasm is non-molecular, as 

 also is a larger proportion of sea-water. The ionic phase of the sea is 

 one of inconceivable complexity. Colloidal cytoplasm absorbs ions, not 

 molecules. The connexion between the ions of carbonic acid and those 

 of water are of special biological interest, as under the influence of 

 solar radiation they would seem to have led to the evolution of auto-- 

 tropliic pelagic life, by the formation of simple carlwhydrates. Beyond 

 the introduction of solar energy it is not possible to draw any sharp line 

 between living and non-livinir reactions in the sea. A. Gbpp. 



Peridinium Gilstrowiense sp. n. and its Variation Forms. — E. 



LiNDEMAXX {Arcli. Hydrobiol. ti. Planlctonk., 1916, 11, 49ii-5 : see also 

 Bot. Centralbl., 1918, 137, 310). During an examination of the shallow- 

 waters in the neighbourliood of Ciistrow, in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the 

 author found in a small, quiet woodland lake a new species of Peridinium 

 in large quantity. It is specially interesting by reason of its series of 

 variation forms. Three of these are described and figured : f. typica, 

 f. intercaldtum, and f. Jatissime intercalatum. Besides these there are 

 two " form-deviations," in which an approach to P. Willei Huitf.-Kaas 

 may be detected. E. S. (Iepp. 



Causes of a Brown Colouring of the Water in a Pond of the 

 Experimental Fishery Station at Aneboda in South Sweden. — E. 

 NaU-MANN {Intern, revue HydrabioJ. u. Hydrogr., 1913-14, 6, 7-11; see 

 also Bot. Centralld., 1918, 137. 391-2). In 'the summer of 1912 this 

 pond was coloured chocolate-brown by a fine brown detritus, partly from 

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