PART VII 



FRESHWATER ALG^E 



BY W. WEST, F.L.S., AND G. S. WEST, M.A., D.Sc., F.L.S. 



With Plates XXIV to XXVI 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 



UP to the present our knowledge of Antarctic Freshwater Algae is very scanty. The 

 first records were by Hooker and Harvey* of certain forms collected during the 

 voyage of H.M. ships Erebus and Terror from 1839 to 1843. Wildemanf has given 

 a brief account of the Algae collected by Racovitza on the Antarctic expedition of 

 the s.y. Belgica, and Van HeurckJ has worked out the diatoms of this expedition 

 very fully. Wille has also recorded two Algse from Cape Adare, South Victoria Land 

 (rather more than 71 S. lat.), collected on the Borchgrevink Antarctic Expedition. 

 Other papers dealing more or less with Antarctic freshwater algae are those of Reinsch 

 on Algae collected in Kerguelen Land|| and in South Georgia.** These islands, how- 

 ever, do not extend beyond 55 S. lat., and they possess an Alga-flora which cannot 

 be regarded as of an Antarctic type. 



The algal material collected by the different members of the expedition, but mostly 

 by Mr. James Murray, is probably fairly representative of the Alga-flora of the 

 Antarctic continent in the vicinity of Ross Island. The Algae were found on the 

 ground, on stones, and in the lakes, and owing to the severity of the weather conditions 

 they are completely frozen for at least nine months of the year. In some cases it 

 appears that the lake does not become free from ice for several years, and the Algae 

 have thus to retain their vitality in a frozen state for an extended period. Many of 



* J. D. Hooker and W. H. Harvey, " Algoe in J. D. Hooker's Botany of the Antarctic Voyage," Flora Antarc- 

 tica, Part I., London, 1847. 



f E. de Wildeman, " Note preliminaire sur lea Algues rapportees par M. E. Racovitza, naturaliste de 1'expedition 

 antarctique beige," Bull. Acad. Soy. Belgique, 1900. 



{ Van Heurck, " Diatomees in Result. Voyage du s.y. Belyica en 1897-99," Anvers, 1909, pp. 1-128, Pis. I. -XIII. 



N. Wille, " Antarktische Algen in Mittheilungen tiber einigc von C. E. Borchgrevink auf dem antarctischen 

 Festlande gesanimelte Pflanzen," Nyt Mag. f. Naturvidenskab, Bd. 40, Heft III. 1902. 



|| P. F. Reinsch, " Species ac. gener. Nov. Algarum aq. dulc. Expedit. Vener. transit, hieme 1874-75 in insul. 

 Kerguelensi a cl. Eaton collectis," Journ. Linn. Soc. lot., xv., 1876. 



** P. F. Reinsch, " Spec, et gen. nov. Algarum ex insul. Georgia Austr.," Ber. Deutsch. botan. Oes., vi., 1888. 



BEIT. ANTAKCT. EXPED. 1907-9. VOL I. PART 7, ISSUED DECEMBER 1911 I 







