XLI. OBSERVATIONS ON PTERYGOPHORA. 



CONWAY MAcMlLLAN. 



Among the larger and less thoroughly studied kelps of the 

 Pacific coast, Pterygophora californica Ruprecht has seemed 

 worthy of some attention. A fine series of specimens was se- 

 cured during the summer of 1901 at the Minnesota Seaside Sta- 

 tion on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and while all points 

 in the anatomy and life-history cannot be elucidated from the 

 material in hand, it has seemed best to present an account of 

 such structural and developmental facts as have been observed. 



The name, Pterygophora californica, appears for the first 

 time in botanical literature in Ruprecht's Algen-Stamme,* in 

 1848. In this work no description is given of the genus and 

 species, Ruprecht contenting himself with the statement that 

 the new genus is intermediate between Capca (Ecklonia) and 

 Alaria a point of view which has been but slightly modified 

 by later study and that it will be elsewhere described. In 

 this work, however, there is given some account of the anatomy 

 of the stem and the characteristic annular structure seen in the 

 cross section is mentioned in the following phrase: " Alle 

 (zuweilen bis 9) Ringe deutlich und gleich stark sind." It is in 

 this paper, also, that Ruprecht announces the presence of muci- 

 lage ducts in Pterygophora^ an observation which has since 

 been questioned by Areschoug. 



The formal description of Pterygophora californica, together 

 with a plate which leaves something to be desired, is presented 

 by Ruprecht in his "Pflanzen aus dem nordlichen Theile des 

 Stillen Oceans," | published four years later. The specimens 

 upon which the description of Ruprecht was based were col- 



* Ruprecht, F. J. Bemerkungen ueber den Bau und das Wachsthi'm einiger 

 grossen Algen-Stamme. Mem. Acad. Imp. Sci. Nat. Pctcrsb. 6 : 64, 70. 1848. 



f Ruprecht, F. J. Neue oder umvollstandig bekannte Pflanzen aus dem 

 nordlichen Theile des Stillen Oceans. Mem. Acad. Imp. Sci. Nat. Petersb. 7 : 

 17-19 (73-75)- * 5, 8. 1852. 



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