August 4, 1887] 



NATURE 



5»S 



III. UDOTEACE/F. 



(4) Chlorodesmis ; (4a) ? Avrainvillea ; (5) Espera ; 

 (6) Penicillus ; (7) Rhipocephalus ; (8) Callipsygma ; 

 (9) Udotea ; (9a) ? Rhipidosiphon ; (10) Halimeda. 



IV. VALONIACE;^. 



(11) Valonia ; (12) Siphonocladus, ? Ascothamnion, 

 ? Trichosolen ; (13) Apjohnia ; (14) Struvea ; (15) Chamae- 

 doris ; (16) Dictyosphaeria; (17) Anadyomene. 



(18) Caulerpa. 



V. Caulerpe^. 



VI. Dasyclade^. 



(19) Dasydadus ; (20) Chlorocladus ; (21) Botryophora ; 

 (22) Cymopolia ; (23) Neomeris ; (24) Bornetella; 

 (25) Halicoryne ; (26) Polyphysa ; (27) Acetabularia, 

 1 Pleiophysa. 



It will be observed that the position of Derbesia, 

 Cladothele, Avrainvillea, Rhipidosiphon, Ascothamnion, 

 and Trichosolen are not yet finally determined. Neither 

 does the author yet see his way to include Chlorodictyon 

 {Ast. Holm. 1870, Ofversigt No. 5, p. 427, tab. iv.) in the 

 present arrangement. Codiolum is also excluded. The 

 genus Balbisiana is mentioned (p. 10) once, but is not 

 again referred to. Has Bryopsis Balbisiana been 

 formed into a distinct genus under this name ? 



Under Avrainvillea Dr. Agardh includes the Fradelia 

 of Chauvin, the Chloroplegma of Zanardini, and the 

 Rhipilia of Kiitzing. This genus has the habit of 

 Udotea, a cylindrical stem, a coriaceous, flabellate 

 frond, of a very dark colour, with lacerated apex, form- 

 ing irregular lobes, in which the zones of Udotea are 

 absent. Of the fruit nothing appears to be known. 



Of Rhipidosiphon there is no description, and very 

 little seems to be actually known about this Alga. To 

 Dr. Agardh it appears to be a young plant of Udotea. 



Our knowledge of Ascothamnion {Valonia intricata, 

 C. Ag.) is very limited, although the plant has been found 

 in most of the warmer seas. 



Trichosolen is a native of the Antilles, where it was 

 found by Montagne. With Pleiophysa Dr. Agardh is 

 acquainted only through Kiitzing's figure {Tab. Phyc, 

 vol. xvi. tab. i). The habit and form of the sporidia 

 agree with those of Halicoryne. 



Penicillus Pha:nix now appears as Rhipocephalus 

 Phoenix. The new genus Callipsygma is founded on 

 an Australian Alga which bears a certain resemblance to 

 the last-mentioned plant. The former has an undivided 

 terete stem incrusted with lime, while in the latter the 

 stem is two-edged, without incrustation, and from the 

 margins issue pinnate ramuli. The fruit of both genera 

 is unknown. 



Chlorocladus is between Dasycladus and Botryophora 

 = Dasycladus occidentalis. These three genera are 

 especially distinguished from each other by their fruit. 



Of the whole group of the Siphonea; three genera only 

 have representatives on the British shores. These three 

 genera are Bryopsis, Derbesia, and Codium. They have 

 all a wide range. Of the nineteen species of Bryopsis, 

 two are natives of these shores. Derbesia ranges from 

 the Adriatic to the Faroe Isles and Norway. Dr. Agardh 

 does not seem to be aware that D. tenuissima has been 

 found on the British coast. Although Codium has so 

 extensive a range, no species has yet been recorded from 



the east coast of the United States. That remarkable 

 plant, C. bursa, which is found on the southern coast of 

 Britain, the Mediterranean and Adriatic, has recently 

 been obtained from Victoria, Australia. On the Sussex 

 coast it may sometimes be picked up after storms. Its 

 range in depth of water is about the same as that oi Ryti- 

 phhca pinastroides^ with fragments of which, when hollow 

 and torn, the frond is sometimes filled. Sphacelaria 

 plumula grows on it occasionally. Dr. Agardh mentions 

 that three or four fronds often grow together. The writer 

 possesses a specimen from Brighton, which consists of a 

 group of ten fronds, one of which is fixed to a piece of 

 chalk ; the others grow upon one another, a few filaments 

 attaching the young plants to the older ones. In 1870 

 the Rev. E. S. Dewick was fortunate enough to pick up a 

 specimen at Eastbourne, which, on examination, proved 

 to be in fruit. He stated at a meeting of the Eastbourne 

 Natural History Society (November 18, 1870) that "the 

 Coniocyst£e are produced on the outer surface of the 

 clavate filaments, and differ from those of C. tomentosum 

 only in being nearer the top of the filaments, and smaller 

 in proportion to their size." 



Codium tomentosum was reputed to be nearly cosmo- 

 politan. Dr. Agardh, however, shows that several 

 species have been included under this name, and that 

 the so-called Australian forms belong to C. Muelleri, 

 C. Galeatum, and C. mucronatum. In the last two species 

 the utricles are mucronate, as represented in Plate i, 

 Figs. I, 2, 3. C. elongatum, in which the frond, instead of 

 being cylindrical, as in C. tomentosum, is compressed, is 

 recorded by Dr. Agardh from Ireland. This fact is 

 worthy the attention of British algologists. C. latum, 

 found by M. Suringar on the coast of Japan, is not 

 referred to in Dr. Agardh's work, neither is the plant, 

 apparently allied to Codium, called by M. Suringar 

 Acanthocodium (see " Alg. Jap.," p. 23). This also is a 

 native of Japan, and probably but very little known. 



Although so many points in the history of the Siphoneae 

 are still undetermined, this work of Dr. Agardh's will be 

 found full of interest and instruction. 



Mary P. Merrifield. 



AMERICAN MINING INDUSTRIES. 

 Report on the Mining Industries of the United States 

 {exclusive of the precious metals.) By R. Pumpelly, 

 4to, pp. xxxviii.-io25. (Washington : Government 

 Printing Office, 1886.) 



THIS, the fifteenth and final volume of the Reports 

 illustrating the results of the census of the United 

 States taken in 1880, is in great part devoted to descrip- 

 tions of the principal districts producing iron ores in the 

 United States, t-he condition of the mines during the census 

 year being studied in considerable detail, and in many 

 cases illustrated by sketches of the workings. A very 

 large number of samples of the ores of the different mines 

 were collected by specially appointed agents, who visited 

 every district and almost every mine of importance, and 

 these were examined by a chemical staff at a special 

 laboratory at Newport, Rhode Island. It was originally 

 intended to make complete analyses of the greater number 

 of the 1400 samples so collected, but the early exhaustion 

 of the funds voted for the census necessitated an extensive 



