THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



series of both sexes, near Cranbourne, and we have lately heard 

 from Sydney that a male specimen was captured on the wing 

 during January, 1895, near Wentworth Falls, in the Blue Moun- 

 tains, by Mr. G. A. Waterhouse, Mr. G. Lyell, jun., having seen 

 and identified the insect. 



A BOTANICAL PEEP INTO THE ROCKY POOLS OF 

 SORRENTO AND QUEENSCLIFF. 



By Henry Thos. Tisdall. 

 {Bead before Field Naturalists' 1 Club of Victoria, 12th April, 1897.) 

 I wish to draw the attention of some of our members to a branch 

 of study which opens a wide field of investigation to students of 

 Nature — I mean the Algae of Victoria. Mr. Harvey, in his 

 magnificent work on Australian Algse, has delineated and de- 

 scribed a great number of our seaweeds. The late Mr. H. Watts, 

 who was an active member of our Club, took a great interest in 

 our seaweeds, and the specimens which he presented to the 

 Botanical Museum are a great help to a student. The late Baron 

 Mueller's list of Alga; in the nth vol. of his " Fragmenta " is also 

 a great boon. Since that list was published, owing to the in- 

 defatigable exertions of the late Mr. Bracebridge Wilson, of 

 Geelong, a great increase has been made in the known seaweeds 

 of Victoria. But I am quite sure, from the experience I have 

 had during my visits to Flinders, Sorrento, and Ocean Grove, 

 that there is still plenty of scope for further investigation and a 

 good chance for members who would undertake it to find many 

 of these plants which are, if not quite new to science, still un- 

 recorded as being found in Victoria. 



As the study of Alga; is not common, I propose to preface my 

 remarks by giving a brief outline of the structure and habit of 

 these peculiar plants. Seaweeds are entirely composed of tiny 

 structures called cells ; these are generally quite microscopic, and 

 consist of a bag or sac containing protoplasm, a nucleus, &c. 

 There are seaweeds so minute that they are entirely composed of 

 a single cell. With a good microscope we may find hundreds of 

 these on almost any seaweed we pick up; these are termed 

 unicellular. Again, we may find a number of these cells fastened 

 together by their ends only, like a string of beads ; these are said 

 to be cell filaments. If these filaments are also fastened sideways 

 to each other so as to form a thin sheet they are called cell plates ; 

 and lastly, if a number of these plates be placed one over another 

 they are termed cell masses. Thus, according to structure, we 

 may divide seaweeds into " unicellular," " cell filaments," " cell 

 plates," and " cell masses." In addition to this cell structure 

 most land plants are provided with long tubes or vessels for con- 

 veying nourishment to their various parts, but these vessels are 



