OF ARTS AND SCIKNCE3. 177 



XIII. 



CONCERNING THE LIFE-HISTORY OF SACCORHIZA 

 DERMATODEA, (De la Pyl.) J. Ag. 



By William Albert Setchell. 



Presented by W. G. Farlow, June 10, 189L 



We owe our first knowledge of this interesting species to Baron de la 

 Pylaie, who discovered it iu 1816, on his first visit to Newfoundland 

 and the neighboring islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon. He deposited 

 specimens of this plant with the Museum of Paris in 1817, and gave 

 to it the name of Laminaire en forme de cuir, or Laminaria der- 

 matodea. In his second voyage to Newfoundland, in 1819, De la 

 Pylaie extended his observation on this species. In 1824 he pub- 

 lished the name given to the herbarium specimens, as well as a few 

 remarks on the affinities of the species, in the " Annales des Sciences 

 Naturelles." But it was not until 1829, however, that he gave any 

 detailed account of its form and structure. In that year he published 

 the first part of the " Flore de Terre Neuve," a work which was to 

 include descriptions of all the plants collected by him in the "New 

 World." This part, however, was the only one ever published, and 

 that lacks the plates intended to accompany it. 



The description both of the external form and the internal struc- 

 ture published in the " Flore de Terre Neuve " is very full. De la 

 Pylaie considered that it replaced on the shores of Newfoundland the 

 Laminaria bulbosa of Europe, whose near relative he rightly judged 

 it to be. The name was suggested by the thickness and leathery con- 

 sistency of the adult plant. 



The plant thus discovered and described has since been found in 

 several other places, and a number of references have been made to 

 it. A list of as many as have come under the notice of the writer 

 is appended to this paper. 



Distribution. — The range of SaccorMza dermatodea seems to be 

 circumpolar. It is found at Vancouver's Island, on the western coast 

 of North America,* and along the shore of Southwestern Kam- 



* Harvey, Prnc. Linn. Soc, Vol. VI. p. 106, 18G2. 

 VOL. XXVI. (n. 8. xvai.) 12 



