INTRODUCTION 



A. 



lS in the case of my Chlorophyceae paper the present 

 communication is based upon material collected during my three 

 stays at the islands. 



With regard to the collecting of the algfe, reference should 

 be made to the introduction to the Chlorophycese section for 

 information as to the localities visited and for physiographical 

 details. Here also a chart showing the coral reefs, depths etc. in 

 the sea nearest the islands is published. 



Concerning the brown algae from the islands I have already 

 published some papers on the subject, namely: 



Two crustaceous brown algae from the Danish West Indies (Xuova 

 Notarisia, Serie XXIII, Luglio 1912). 



The species of Sargassum found along the coasts of the Danish West 

 Indies with remarks upon the floating forms of the Sargasso Sea (Minde- 

 sivrift for Japetus Steenstrup, Kobenhavn 1914). 



For the sake of completeness I also give here the contents 

 of these paper so far as they treat with the fixed algae living at 

 the shores of the islands. 



.If we compare the brown algal vegetation of the West Indian 

 islands with that found in northern seas we see clearly the well 

 known fact that the northern brown algal vegetation reaches a 

 luxuriancy which greatly surpass that in the tropics. The group 

 of brown algae which in the islands is most vigorously developed 

 is the Fiicacese represented by Sargassum and Turbinaria, and 

 where these are growing in full vigour this tropical Fucacese- 

 Formation is not much inferior to that found in the northern sea, 



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