70 ^'ol. XLIII, Art. 1.— K. Yendo: 



of Novaya Zemlya." This description may be almost word for 

 word applied to the habitat of A. fistidosa in the North Pacific. 

 The fronds of enormous breadth and length reach the surface of 

 the sea and then bend horizontally ; the hollow midrib serves as 

 a buoy and the blade hangs down along it like a gigantic Musa 

 leaf. A large number of the plant are usually found aggregated at 

 some distance from the sea shore, choosing a suitable depth and 

 substratum for growtli. In the South Kuriles the favourable site 

 is in waters of 5-7 fatlioms depth and in the North Kuriles, a 

 little shallower. It is told by seal hunters that the dense aggre- 

 gation of the floating blades is a resting place for the sea-otters. 

 According to Setchell and Gardner, ^^ its habitat on the coasts of 

 north -western Alaska seems to be about the same. Kjellman^) 

 simply remarks that it is gregarious in tlie lower part of the sub- 

 littoral region of the Bering Islands. 



The two examples mentioned above tell us the fact that the 

 spores of these species germinate in a much decider place than the 

 others. This does not mean, however, that they choose a calm 

 place for their existence. They are found, at least A. fisfulosa 

 as I have actually observed, in those places where the currents 

 are unusually swift. Their anchorage in deeper water may be 

 more probably an adaptation for their enormous length of frond, 

 in analogy to Nereocystis or Macrocijstis. 



Systematic Position of the Genus Alaria. 



The genus Alaria in the sense taken by modern algologists 

 was established by Gkeville in 1830 for Facus esculent us L. Prior 

 to this, the plant was mentioned, though not very precisely, under 



1) Setchell and Gaednek : Algae o^ N. W. North Amer., p. 276. 



2) Kjeilman: Om Beringhafvets Algflora, p. 41. 



