Criticai Notes on Laminariaceae 



by WILLIAM ALBERT SETCHELL 



Laminaria Ruprechti (Aresch.) De Toni is one of the species 

 of marine algae of the northwestern coast of North America con- 

 cerning which it has been difficult to obtain exact information al- 

 though the description of Areschoug (cfr. under Hafgygia Ruprechti, 

 in Obs. Phyc., pt. 4, p. 4, 1 883; is full and explicit. In searching 

 through the herbarium of Areschoug, in the Rovai Academy at Stock- 

 holm, I found no cover for this species, nor did I find any specimen 

 labelled with this nanne. In the cover of Laminaria stenophylla, ho- 

 wever, I did find a plant which certainly must be Areschoug' s type. 

 It was labelled « Laminaria dermatodea La Pyl., Herb. Acad. Petrop., 

 Sitcha, Amer. ross. » evidently ari originai label from the Academy 

 at St. Petersburg, but on another slip was written ; — « Truncus 

 M. 0.20 lang. Lamina M. 1.70, laciniae M. o. lolatae». When com- 

 pared with Areschoug' s statements as to source, former determina- 

 tion, dimensions etc, these notes and label, seem to place this as 

 the type without question. The specimen, itself, was light brown, 

 with no trace of bullae in the biade and looking very much like 

 Saccorhi^a dermatodea, except that the stipe was not noticeably 

 flattened. A microscopical examination of the biade showed no thi- 

 ckened fibers such as occur in both stipe and biade of the last men- 

 tioned species, so that there can be no question that the plant is a 

 true species of the genus Laminaria as that genus is at present de- 

 fined. Furthemore, in every superficial vvay, it resembles very closely 

 the plant described by N. L. Gardner and myself as L. ballata f. cu- 

 neata (cfr. Algae of Northwestern America, p. 258, 1903) except in 



