THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 31 



THE FRESH-WATER ALG^ OF VICTORIA. 



Part II. 



By a. D. Hardy. 



(Read he/ore the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, lOth April, 1905.) 



Family — DESMiDiACEiE. 

 Since reading the introductory paper on the fresh-water Algas 

 of Victoria before this Ckib in August last (Vict. Nat., vol. xxi., p. 

 8i), I have received two new works from abroad. These are " A 

 Revision of the Classification of the Green Algae," by Messrs. 

 Blackman and Tansley, M.'sA., 1903, and " A Treatise on the 

 British Fresh-water Algce," by Professor G. S. West, M.A., 

 A.R.C.S., F.L.S., &c. The former treats the Chloropliyceaj as a 

 heterogeneous class which is now broken up, the term " Chloro- 

 phycese " being therefore abandoned. The scheme of classification 

 embraces four divisions, viz. : — Class I. — Isokontse ; Class II. — 

 Stephanokontas ; Class III. — Akontse ; and Class IV. — Hetero- 

 kont^ie. The Akontse is synonymous with the Conjugatse of other 

 authors, and comprises two series — viz., Desmidiales (or 

 Desmidioidese) and Zygnemales (or Zygnemoidese). Further 

 subdivision into families, sub-families, and 31 genera follows. In 

 the second work mentioned, West divides his Algae (marine and 

 fresh-water) into six classes, retaining the term Chlorophyceae 

 for the third class, as comprising Algce containing " only the 

 green colouring-matter known as chlorophyll ; very largely fresh- 

 water plants. The stored product of assimilation is in almost 

 all cases starch." 



As Professor West has most kindly undertaken, at my request, 

 to identify those Victorian forms which appear to me to vary so 

 far from the type as to be doubtful, and also to name and 

 describe new species, it is desirable that his nomenclature and 

 classification be adhered to in this and subsequent papers bearing 

 on the subject. 



In addition to the foregoing, " A Monograph of the British 

 Desmidiaceae" is being issued by the Ray Society to its members. 

 Of this the first volume has reached me, further parts being still 

 in the press. 



Hitherto Cooke's " British Desmids " has been the standard 

 English authority, and many of the Desmids included in 

 the short list which I submit this evening have been identified 

 by means of that work, though reference has also been made 

 to those records of Victorian Desmids mentioned in an 

 historical sketch included herewith, also to the works of Maskell 

 and Spencer in New Zealand, and to Bailey's " Contributions to 

 the Queensland Flora," which includes in the several Botany 

 Bulletins descriptions of Desmids prepared by Professors Moebius, 

 Askenasy, Nordstedt, Schmidle, and Borge. 



Before proceeding further, it may be advantageous to give 



