X. NITELLA BATRACHOSPERMA IN MINNESOTA. 



GENE LILLEY. 



The first record of Nitella batrachosperma was made in 1833 

 by Reichenbach who called it Chara batrachosperma. In 

 1847 A. Braun (i) placed it with the Nitellae. 



The plant is quite widely distributed in Europe. Migula 

 states that it has been reported from Germany, Switzerland, 

 Sweden, Finland, France, Austria, Italy, Spain and that also it 

 has been reported from Australia and North America. During 

 the summer of 1898 A. J. Pieters, Assistant Botanist of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, collected Nitella batrachosperma at 

 East Harbor, Ohio. He describes the habitat as follows : " At 

 East Harbor there is a wide stretch of swamp intersected by 

 channels which open into the lake by one deep and- narrow 

 channel protected from severe wave action by a sand-bar. . . 

 A short distance from the entrance, the channel divides, one 

 branch going east, the other west. . . . Just where the channel 

 turns toward the east is a sandy beach covered with two feet or 

 less of water, and here grow several species of Characeae, 

 which are more abundant here than elsewhere in the swamp. 

 Nitella tenuissima and N. batrachosperma grow in about one 

 foot of water with their branches spread out flat on the sand." 



Nitella batrachosperma was collected in Minnesota by the 

 writer in August, 1901, at Pike lake, a small shallow lake 

 twelve miles west of Duluth. The plants grew on a sandy 

 beach where the water was from three to six inches deep. The 

 east end of the lake is the only part where the beach is sandy, 

 and although the shore around the lake was examined carefully 

 it was only at this one place that the plants were seen. ' Chara 

 coronata Ziz. was found with N. batrachosperma. N. tenuis- 

 sima Desv., which is usually reported with N. batrachosperma ^ 

 was not found at this place. The collection was made in the 

 morning when the sun's rays struck the water at such an angle 

 as to light up the sandy bottom, so that the plant could be easily 

 distinguished from Chara coronata. The previous afternoon 



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