Miscellaneous. , 81 



Specimens of the Algae collected were sent to Prof. W. G. Fallow, 

 of Harvard University, from whom the following preliminary report 

 has been received : — 



" The Algae which you collected in Salt Lake are very interesting, 

 and, as far as I know, are the first which have ever been collected 

 in that locality. Mr. Sereno Watson, the distinguished botanist of 

 the King Survey, tells me that he examined a portion of Salt Lake 

 for Algae, but without success, and thinks it probable that very few 

 plants will be found in the lake. The specimens you sent comprise 

 two small packages of dried material and a small bottle of alcoholic 

 specimens. Tbe alcoholic material is scarcely determinable, as the 

 specific characters of Algae, such as would be expected to occur in 

 Salt Lake, are generally lost by immersion in alcohol. The dried 

 material I have soaked out and examined. 



" It consists largely of grains of sand and remains of small 

 animals, mixed with which are three species of Algae. The most 

 abundant Alga is one which forms irregular gelatinous masses, 

 sometimes attaining a diameter of half an inch. The colour, appa- 

 rently much faded in drying, is brownish with a tinge of bluish 

 green*. It seems to me to be a species of Polycystis ; and I am 

 unable to refer it to any of the described species, and have called 

 it provisionally Polycystis Packard ii. Its distinguishing characters 

 are the oblong shape of its cells, which are smaller than in any of 

 the marine species of the genus which I have examined, and the 

 firmness and lobulated form of the gelatinous substance in which 

 they are imbedded. Besides the Polycystis there is a species of Ulva, 

 using the word in the extended sense adopted by Le Jolis, which is 

 in fragments, so that one can form no very accurate idea of its 

 habit. The microscopic characters, however, show that it is, with 

 scarcely any doubt, Ulva marginata, Ag., found on the coasts of 

 Europe. The specimens from Salt Lake agree very well with speci- 

 mens from the French coast which are considered by Le Jolis to be 

 the species described by Agardh. The third Alga from Salt Lake 

 is much less abundant than the others in the packages sent, and 

 is also in poor condition for comparison with herbarium specimens. 

 It is a species of Rliizoclonium ; and it comes very near to B. sali- 

 num, Ktz. (R. riparium, Harv.), a common marine species of this 

 country and also found in Europe near salt springs. The Salt-Lake 

 plant has smaller cells and approaches R. Kochianum, a species also 

 marine and found in saline regions. 



"You will see, then, that two of the three species are recognizable 

 as marine forms, while the third, in my opinion new, is at least not 

 to be referred to a known marine form. As a rule, the Algae found 

 in saline regions belong to species found in brackish waters on the 

 coast. One might expect to find a large variety of Ulveae and Con- 

 ferveae in Salt Lake ; and it would be of interest to see how closely 

 these inland forms approximate to the littoral forms of the eastern 

 and western coasts." — Amer. Nat., Nov. 1879. 



* The colour in life is an olive-green. — A. S. P. 

 Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 5. Vol v. 6 



