123 



late " tribes, nor has he at present any intention of resuming it. The task has conse- 

 quently fallen on my shoulders, and my object will be gained and my ambition fully 

 satisfied, if, in the following pages, I have succeeded in affording any assistance to 

 the researches of my fellow-students. I could have wished, and indeed had intended, 

 that the work should be illustrated with figures, at least of the genera ; but my limited 

 stay in Europe did not afford time to prepare them, and it does not now appear desirable 

 to delay the publication till they could be got ready. However they might have added 

 to the beauty of the book, the student will experience little loss by their omission, who 

 takes this Manual for what I wish it to be, a companion to the ' Algse Danmonienses, 

 published and sold by Mary Wyatt, Dealer in Shells, Torquay; ' a most important work, 

 now extending to four volumes, with a supplement, composed of specimens of 234 spe- 

 cies, beautifully dried and correctly named. These volumes furnish the student with 

 a help, such as no figures, however correctly executed, can at all equal, — nature's own 

 pencil illustrating herself." 



Of this ' Manual ' we do not think it too much to say, that Mr. Harvey alone, 

 among British botanists, was prepared to undertake it. For many years the Algee, as 

 we have seen, were his peculiar favourites, and he had carefully studied those groups 

 which had been most imperfectly described by other authors.* His volume contains 

 an ample Introduction, in which he considers the structure, habits and uses of these 

 plants ; and the descriptive portion is preceded by a Synopsis of the Families and 

 Genera. 



The general an-angement is that proposed by the author in the 'Flora Hibernica;' 

 the families being primarily grouped under four series, as follows ; the first three be- 

 ing chiefly characterized, as their names indicate, by the colour of their seeds. 



Series T. Melanospermes, contains the families Fucoideas, Lichineas, Lamina- 

 rieae, Sporochnoideae, Dictyoteae, Ectocarpeae, Chordarieae. 



Series II. RhodospermejE. — Gloiocladeae, Gastrocarpeae, Spongiocarpeae, Fur- 

 cellarieae, Florideae, Ceramieae. 



Series III. CHLOROsPERMEiE. — Lemaniea?, Batrachospermeae, Chaetophoroideas, 

 ConferveEe, Siphoneae, Oscillatorieas, Ulvaceae, Nostochinae, Byssoideae ? 



Series IV. Diatomace^. — Desmidieae, Fragillarieae, Styllarieae, Cymbelleae. 



It will be observed that Mr. Harvey has altogether done away with the old method by 

 which the Algas were primarily disposed according to the articulate or inarticulate cha- 

 racter of the frond. This is surely a great improvement, as many fonns occur whi ch ^ 

 are strictly intermediate, by uniting both characters in the same individual. 



We observe under Sporochnoideae that Striaria Grevilliana of Pollexfen is reduced 

 to a variety of Sporochnus rhizodes. This very singular plant we have ourselves ex- 

 amined, and are not prepared to question the decision at which the author has arrived; 

 but the examination has led us to the conclusion that Sp. rhizodes itself might with 

 propriety be placed in the genus Striaria, the character being slightly modified. A 

 new species of Ectocarpus is described, which was discovered at Ballycastle by Miss 

 Hincks ; besides Ect. fasciculatus and pusillus, for the first time made known in the J 

 'Algae Danmonienses.' 



*Mr. Harvey's algological researches have not been confined to the British Flora. 

 Vide his ' Genera of South African Plants,' and various papers in botanical periodicals. 



