FRESIIWATKK Al.li.K. 
DbTBEMINHD B1 
W. WEST, F.L.8., and Q. s. w I->1. B.A., a.B.0.8. 
The algse which form the subject of this paper were collected 
some forty years ago by l>r. Welwitsch during bis eighl years' 
resid< nee in A.ngola. They are chiefly from the latter region, bul 
a t'rw are From B nguella and Sierra Leone. The specimens are 
all dried ones, and for the mosl pari are mounted on paper. Por- 
tions of all had to In- MKiknl out tor invest Ration, the results of 
which have been verj gratifying, as bj this means, after a detailed 
examination, many of the smaller species bave been observed. 
These latter, however, bad not been collected as such, but, inde 
pendently entangled among other conspicuous species, had been 
collected with them. The Desmids bad practically .-ill been 
unconsciously obtained In this way, few, if any. collections having 
been made from places in which one would expect bo find Desmids 
in abundance; and yet about 130 fine species (including fifty 
undescribed ones) have been found as intruders amongst other 
algse. From these mere samples one is 1 « * I to wonder as to the 
richness of the Desmid-flora of Tropical Africa. 
Y. py little is known concerning the Freshwater Algse of Africa, 
only a few small scattered papers having as yet been published; 
and this extensive collection — one in which almost all the groups 
an- represented very considerably enlarges our knowledge ol the 
geographical distribution of these plants. 
At the time these algse were collected the great majority of 
the species were as yet undescribed. They form pan of the 
Welwitsch collection deposited in the British Museum, and the 
numbers after the species refer to the numbers on the 3b 
this collection. A few of the species can hardly be considered as 
freshwater ones, but as they were in the collection we bave 
included t hem. 
It is mi. resting to note that the earliest collection of algse made 
in Africa has been found bo be more extensive and representative 
than any hitherto described. The species are localised under the 
various district- of the region, exactly as indicated by Welwitsch 
on his herbarium labels. (Ej Journ, Bot. 1897, pp. I, -'•) 
