b SOME NEW BRITISH MARINE ALG^. 



It will be of interest to compare the above list, very imperfect 

 as it is, witli tliat for the iiei,i(hbouring group of coral islands, the 

 Laccadives, of which Dr. Prain has given an exhaustive account in 

 a valuable paper.* This group consists of sixteen or seventeen 

 islands off the Malabar coast of Peninsular India, the most easterly 

 of them being only 120 miles from it, and they are extended between 

 10° and 14° JSI. lat. Several of the islands are much larger than any 

 of the Maldives, and appear to possess a richer and more varied flora. 



As many as 192 species of Phanerogams are included in Dr. 

 Prain's list, of which 50 are cultivated, leaving 142 wild species. 

 Yet it is remarkable that in the above list of 40 wild Maldive plants 

 as many as 15 are not in this much more extensive Laccadive list ; 

 these are the following: — litis LUmai, Dolichos Labhib, Cassia 

 auriculata, C, Sophera, AdenantJiera j^d'^^'onina, Sonneratia acida, 

 Pewpliis acidula, Oidenlandia iimhellata, Jasminam sp., Justicia 

 prociunbens, Vitex Negundo, Nothoscerva hrachiata, Fimbristylis 

 spat/iacea, Zoysia pwufens, Macuranga tomentosa. Of these, 8un- 

 neratia, Pew phis, Oldenlandid , Fimbristijlis, and Zoysia are littoral 

 plants, and the others, except Vitis Limmi, mostly weeds or escapes 

 from cultivation. 



Minikoi I. is included politically with the Laccadives, but it is 

 isolated in 8° 30' N. lat., and is thus rather nearer the Maldives, and 

 it has also a Maldive population. It is five miles long by half a mile 

 broad. It has a rich flora, and no less than forty-five of the species 

 included in the Laccadive list are recorded from it 07ily. Of these, 

 seventeen or eighteen are cultivated plants, and nine or ten of these 

 are also cultivated in the Maldives ; Triphasia trifuliata and Tenni- 

 nalia Catajipa are, however, considered to be wild in Minikoi. It is 

 probable that many of its plants have been imported directly from 

 Ceylon, there having been much intercourse with Colombo, especially 

 during the building of the great lighthouse. Some sixty species are 

 given for Minikoi which are not as yet recorded for the Maldives, 

 but many doubtless occur there, such as the littoral species Suriana 

 niaritima, Canavalia obtusifolia, Scsuvium, Wedelia bijiora {W. scan- 

 dens Clarke), Ochrosia borboiiica, Ipomcea biloba, Boerhaavia diffusa 

 [B. repens), and Thuarea sarmentosa, and many weeds of cultivation. 

 The only Minikoi plant absent from Ceylon is Canavalia turyida 

 (which is doubtfully a distinct species), with a wide range as a littoral 

 plant in the Eastern Tropics. 



SOME NEW BRITISH MARINE ALG^. 



By E. a. L. Batters, B.A., LL.B., F.L.S. 



In this Journal for 1895, pp. 27J-276, I gave a list of the more 

 important species of Cltlor,q)lnjccic and B/uiophycccc added to the 

 British Marine Flora during the last twelve months ; the i^resent 



* Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. v. and vi. (1892-3), reprinted in his 

 ' Memoirs and Memoranda ' (1894). 



