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Art. XLIV- — Notices of Books 8fc. connected with British Botany. 



1. A Manual of the British Algce : containing Generic and Specific Descriptions of 

 all the known British Species of Sea-Weeds and of Confervas, both Marine and 

 Fresh-water. By The Hon. William Henry Harvey. London : Van 

 Voorst. 1841. 8vo. 



The beautiful family of plants known by the popular name of sea-weeds, has long 

 excited the admiration not only of the mere sea-side rambler, but of many profound 

 botanists. The names of Esper, Lamouroux, Mortens, Agardh, Lyngbye, Kiitzing 

 and others on the continent; and of Stacthouse, Turner, Dillwyn, Hutchins, Griffiths, 

 Berkeley, Greville and Harvey in our own country ; are especially associated with 

 these plants. It is, however, only within the present century that the algological Flo- 

 ra can be said to have assumed a strictly systematic form. The structure and affinities 

 of the Algffi have, within this period, been carefully examined, their economy investi- 

 gated, and their geographical position ascertained. The four great genera — Tremella, 

 Fucus, Ulva and Conferva, into which Linnaus divided the comparatively few species 

 he was acquainted with, have expanded, in the British Flora alone, into 127 for the 

 most part well-defined genera ; and a rigid analysis is at length applied to these as 

 well as to other plants. In Great Britain, as might have been expected from the fa- 

 cilities which her shores present to the student, several works of standard merit have 

 been devoted to their illustration. 'English Botany' contains figures (deficient in de- 

 tails) of all the species known at the time of its publication. The splendid ' Historia 

 Fucorum ' of Turner includes all the British species formerly described under the hete- 

 rogeneous genus Fucus ; and Dillwyn's ' Synopsis of the British Confervae ' contains 

 illustrations of the equally heterogeneous Conferva; while in the 'Algae Britannicae' 

 of Greville are given figures and analyses of the modern genera of the inarticulate 

 tribes. Various species are also represented in the same author's ' Cryptogamic Flora;' 

 and lastly, in point of time, Berkeley's ' Gleanings' illustrate many others belonging 

 to the more minute and difficult groups, It was not, however, until the publication 

 of the second volume of the ' British Flora' in 1833, that the whole of the British Al- 

 gffi were brought together and described with methodical accuracy by Mr. Harvey, 

 with the exception alone of the Diatomaces, which were contributed by Dr. Greville. 

 Three years subsequently, the entire algological department of the ' Flora Hibernica ' 

 was executed in a most able manner by Mr. Harvey, and particular attention bestowed 

 on some of the difficult genera, especially Callithamnion and Polysiphonia. One 

 other work of eminent utility remains to be mentioned — the ' Algs Danmouienses ' of 

 Mrs. Wyatt (under the superintendance of Mrs. Griffiths), on the plan of that beauti- 

 ful collection, ' Algues de la Nonuandie, par J. Chauvin ' ; but of this publication, as 

 well as of his views regarding the work immediately under consideration, we shall let 

 our estimable author speak for himself. 



" The want of a work in the English language, entirely devoted to the British Algae, 

 in which fuller descriptions should be given than the scope of Hooker's ' British Flora' 

 admitted of, and in which all the known species should be included, has long been 

 felt by lovers of this branch of Botany. Had my friend Dr. Greville completed, as 

 was once his intention, his admirable ' Algee Britannicse,' no room would have been 

 left for ray humble labours, nor should I for a moment wish to take the subject out of 

 such able hands. But his work has unfortunately stopped short with the " inarticu- 



