Miscellaneous Notes. 



\ 



By MARSHAiiii A. Howe. 



Specimens of a Fucits^ seemingly referable to Fucus evan- 

 escenSy Ag, were found by the writer in the month of July at 

 Pncific Grove, Monterey Co,, Cal. It has not to our knowledge 

 been before reported from the western coast of America, but 

 has perhaps in some cases been passed by as Fucus vesicii- 

 losusy L.J which species it resembles. It can be distinguished 

 from the latter by the broader margin, the almost vanishing 

 midrib, and the hermaphrodite conceptacles. In F. vesicit- 

 losus, L. the fronds are dioecious. 



A frond of Gigariina radula^ Ag. was found at the same 

 place, having tetrasporic sori borne on the papillae. Harvey 

 states (Nereis Boreali-Americana, Part II, p. 178) "Speci- 

 mens bearing tetraspores are quite smooth, destitute of 

 papillae." Gigartina microphjjlla Harv., a closely related 

 species, has the tetrasporic sori in the papillae, but the frond 

 in question has in other respects all the distinguishing marks 



of G. radula. 



w 



Specimens of Agrosils alba L. var. vulgaris Thurb. recently 

 received from Newfane, Vt bear glumes of four or five times 

 the normal length. Some j^anicles show only a few of the 

 long glumes, \yhile in others the glumes are all of this abnor- 

 mal size* In the latter case, the general appearance of the 

 inflorescence is so altered that a plant of this kind was 

 recently referred to another genus by a prominent American 

 botanist. A microscopical examination of the ovaries shows 

 them to be infected with nematode Avorms, perhaps of the 

 genus Heterodera, and the unusual development of the glumes 

 is probably due to their presence. 



