62 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



THE FRESH-WATER AhGJE OF VICTORIA. 



Part II. (continued from page 35). 



By a. D. Hardy. 



{Read he/vre the Field Naturalists' Cliih of Victoria, lOth April, 1! 05.) 



Desmidiace^e (continued). 

 The literature relating to Victorian Desmids is, as far as I have 

 ascertained after a careful search, embraced in the following notes, 

 which give the references in chronological order : — 



In 1864 there appeared in the Trans. Roy. Soc. Vict, a short 

 list of " Confervacese " and " Desmidiese," collected by the late 

 Mr. Henry Watts, and identified in Europe by algologists, to 

 whom the material was sent by the late Baron F. von Mueller. In 

 the list of Desmids some localities were given, but no authors of 

 species — a regrettable omission, in view of the confusion of 

 genera in the history of Alg^, and one that extends throughout all 

 records of these plants in Victoria, with the exception of the few 

 in Nordstedt's list. 



The next record was in 1869, when Mr. Sydney Gibbons con- 

 tributed to the Roy. Soc. Vict. (vol. x., old series) a paper 

 entitled "Air and Water Poisoning in Melbourne." In this he 

 dealt with organic matter, living and dead, found by him in an 

 examination of water in gutters, drains, pipe services, &c., of the 

 metropolitan water supply and drainage system. Among a 

 number of Algae were included eleven species of Desmids, and 

 although little reference appeared in the letterpress, several 

 micro-photographs, which were printed with the paper, show 

 several genera easily recognizable, and an easily identifiable 

 specimen of Micrasterias Jurcata, Ralfs. 



In 1880, in F. v. Mueller's " Frag. Phytograph. Australian" 

 (supplem. ad vol. undec), there were recorded thirty fresh- 

 water Algae, inclusive of several genera of Desmids, but without 

 detail of species. 



In 1883 Mr. H. Watts read a paper before this Club entitled 

 " A Trip to Mt. Macedon in Search of Fresh-water Algae," 

 which was printed in the Sotithern Science Record; vol. iii. (1883). 

 The list of Desmids contained about a dozen species, a few 

 of which were additional to those of previous records, but, as 

 before, the authors' names were omitted, thus leaving the species 

 in confusion. 



In 1887 the Victorian Naturalist (vol. iii., p. 133) contained a 

 paper by Mr. H. Watts, entitled "Some Recent Additions 

 to our Knowledge of Microscopical Natural History." In- 

 cluded with various matters, the author gave a list of 

 Algae and Desmidieae, in which his former lists, dating 

 back to his first record of twenty years earlier, were con- 

 solidated, revised, ai.d supplemented, but without localities 



