THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 83 



this paper a few conspicuous or peculiar forms were described, 

 and, at the end, a revised list of Algae and Desmidiese was added 

 — a simple list, without reference to season, habitat, or size. 



At various times at our Club meetings, in reports of excursions, 

 &c., references have been made to the occurrence of Volvox 

 glohator, Desmids, Nitella, Spirogyra, Conferva, &c., in various 

 localities, and, in looking through the Club's records for such 

 references, I find the names of Messrs. C. A. Topp, M.A., J. 

 Shephard, H. T. Tisdall, R. Bastow, D. McAlpine, W. and J. 

 Stickland, F. Barnard, &c., as members who have saved the 

 subject from obscurity in Victoria, and, since my own recent 

 references to the cryptogamic botany of the Yan Yean Reservoir 

 and the Yarra Glen lagoons, I have found that there are enough 

 members of the Club interested to warrant the assumption that 

 more precise work will be appreciated. 



Regarding the position of the Algte in the vegetable kingdom, 

 if it be divided as in Kerner's "Natural History of Plants," we 

 have four phyla, as follows : — 



1. Myxothallophyta — Slime Fungi. 



2. Thallophyta — Algae and Fungi. 



3. Archegoniatse — Liverworts, Mosses, and Ferns (forms with 

 archegonia fertilized by motile spermatozoids). 



4. Phanerogamae— Flowering Plants (fertilized by means of 

 pollen tubes). 



Selecting the Thallophyta, and dispensing with the class Fungi, 

 except to refer later to the Lichen-Fungi, we have the remaining 

 plants divided into four classes, as follows : — 



I SchizoDhvta ^ Cyanophyceae— Blue-green Algae. 

 ^ ^ \ Schizomycetes— Bacteria. 



II. Dinoflagellata. 



III. Bacillariales, including the Diatomaceae. 



IV. Gamophycete (inclusive of the important sub-class Chloro- 

 phyceae — Green Algae). 



It is with the Schizophyta and Gamophyceae that we shall have 

 most to do, as the study of the Diatoms is too Herculean a task 

 to be undertaken except to the exclusion of all else, and the 

 Dinoflagellata (known as the Peridineae from a zoological stand- 

 point) may also be left aside without materially lessening the 

 interest in our task. Indeed, we may bracket the Cyanophycere 

 and Chlorophyceae together as comprising most of the plants 

 which will receive our attention. 



Two considerations enter largely into the identification and 

 classification of the fresh-water Algae— viz., their colour and 

 mode of reproduction. 



With reference to the colour, it will be found by experiment 

 that a large number of them (the Chlorophyceae) contain the 



