AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF SEA-WEEDS. 881 



need of a reliable guide, in which the present state of our knowledge 

 of sea-weeds should be adequately represented. Such a book we 

 have in this Introduction. 



The work, while permeated, and justly, with the results of 

 foreign (including American) investigations, is an English one, 

 and is a welcome and worthy addition to our stock of home-made 

 botanical books. There has been in Britain, during the last few 

 years, a marked revival in the interest taken in the study of sea- 

 weeds. This revival is a happy combination of that old natural 

 history spirit which led its disciples to the sea-shore, there to study 

 the objects of nature in situ, and of that modern spirit which is not 

 satisfied without a more intimate acquaintance with the objects of 

 its study, an acquaintance only gainefl by the use of the compound 

 microscope and razor. In this revival the author has taken a 

 leading part, not only by his own investigations and expeditions, 

 but by the facilities which he has afforded students, in the Crypto- 

 gamic Department of the Natural History Museum (British Museum), 

 and by his utilization of the trained powers of willing students from 

 the London College of Science and elsewhere, to whom due acknow- 

 ledgment is made in the text. 



In the introductory chapter of the book we have, after a short 

 historical statement, a general account of the distribution, in time 

 and space, of sea- weeds, their structure, collection, preservation, 

 and economic uses. In this last connection the importance of the 

 floating forms (paukton), such as Halmphara, is rightly emphasized, 

 at the same time that the ignorance of, and blameworthy indifference 

 to, their life-histories is deplored. Following on the Introduction 

 we have a useful bibliography, in which the translation of Solms- 

 Laubach's Paltrontologie and of Schmitz's Untersuchun<ien, as well 

 as a fuller reference to the investigations of Holmes and Batters, to 

 wliom British algology owes so much, might have been included 

 with advantage. The PhcBophycea, or brown sea-weeds, are first 

 described, eighty pages being devoted to them. -Justice is done to 

 most of the more recent investigations. The difhculty of keeping a 

 book of this kind up-to-date is illustrated by the interesting Tilo- 

 pteridew, the account of which will need considerable modification, 

 owing to Kuckuck's investigations of the swarm-spores, published 

 quite recently. We think the EctocarpacecB, the last group of P/keo- 

 phijcfifB considered, should have received earlier and fuller treatment. 



Tlie Chlorophycea, or green sea- weeds, are next described. 

 Many interesting forms, especially of the ^^ Si phone cb,'" in which 

 the author is peculiarly at home, are considered. The use of the 

 term "cell" for such forms as Valonia is continued. "Equal 

 gametes," often used, might well give way to " isogametes." (A 

 short account of the terms used, in the Introduction or as a glossary, 

 would add to the value of the book.) A short but interestingly, 

 written chapter is next devoted to the Diatowacea'. 



The PJiodnplujceip, Flondea, or red sea- weeds, follow, fifty pages 

 being devoted to them. The influence of Schmitz, whose premature 

 death came as a personal as well as a great scientific loss, is evident 

 on every page. The greater part of the letterpress is devoted to a 

 description of the different types of fruit (cystocarps), on which the 



