Fuci. 
Turner and 
Hooker, 
dour of the former will induce him to bestow all due 
honour on any rival arrangement, we confidently trust 
that he will not suffer his own sound judgment to be 
shackled, but will , unembaxrassed, on the foun- 
dation which he has so well laid, ‘to rear a system wor- 
thy of his name ; and we are therefore not displeased 
to find it announced as his opinion, that previously to 
any permanent classification being established, it will 
be to reduce the present genera, Fucus, Ulva, 
and Conferva, into one mass, and to proceed in ar- 
ranging de novo. ‘ I 
he first fasciculus of the Historia Fucorum, or Ge- 
neral History of Fuci, by Mr Turner, was publish- 
ed in 1807. Above fe fasciculi have now, (1815) 
come out; in which about 240 species have been 
described and illustrated. We speak the opinion of 
very competent judges on the Continent when we 
say, that Moth the descriptions and the coloured en- 
gravings are admirable, and do honour to the country. 
The latter are chiefly from drawings from the ta 
neil Mr William Jackson Hooker, well known 
or his Tour in Iceland, and his beautiful monograph 
of the Jun niz. Never, as remarked by Sir 
James Edward Smith, was there a more perfect com- 
bination of the skill of the painter and ‘the botanist 
than in this work. It is meant to include figures of all 
those plants which have, by Linnzus and subsequent 
botanists, been arranged under the genus Fucus. Many 
new species have already been added, communicated 
by distinguished botanists and travellers, particularly 
Mr Robert Brown, (the associate of the unfortunate 
Flinders), who remained for more than a. year about 
Van Diemen’s Land and .Kent’s Islands, and had thus 
'€ precious opportunity of collecting the marine plants of 
those distant countries, which he did not fail,to improve. 
The fuci collected by Lord Valentia and Mr Salt, in 
the Red Sea, also enrich the work; and Professor 
Mertens has communicated the Asiatic fuci collect- 
ed in the first Russian voyage round the world, in the 
ships Newa and Nadeshda, The distinguished Dr 
William Wright, of Edinburgh, freely communicated 
those ‘he had gathered on the shores of Jamaica, during 
his residence in that island. _ The illustrious Presidents 
of bys Royal and the Linnean Society (Sir Joseph Banks 
and Sir i. E. Smith) are likewise contributors. The 
descriptions by Mr Turner are ample and luminous, 
and are given both in Latin and English. | Particular 
care is bestowed in illustrating the physiology and 
fructification, and on this account the work a Oe 
interesting. In no botanical production was there ever 
greater attention paid to minute accuracy ; and some 
very general allegations .of occasional incorrectness, 
thrown out by Lamouroux in the Annales du Museum, 
are perhaps sufficiently confuted by this fact—that not 
one instance of real error is specified by the critic. The 
names at present attached to the plants by Mr Turner, 
may, in some measure, be considered as tem 5 at 
-least new generic names must be adopted. It is 
rO- 
bable, however, that, in the arrangement with which 
he is to conclude his work, few of the specific or trivial 
names will need to be changed. Every classification of 
fuci must, in the present state of our knowledge of 
them, be to a certain extent artificial ; but from. this 
author, as near an approach to a natural arrangement 
as possible, may confidently be expected. 
Explanation of Terms. 
Before going farther, it seems oad to explain, in 
a general way, a very few terms, chiefly connected with 
FUCI. 
of Natural Hist 
‘saria, dated 1771. 
Service to botanists in here preserving it. Not 
3 
the fructification of the fuci, as these terms must fre- —_ Puci- 
quently recur in the ipnea sept pers of this article, and “yo” 
are scarcely to be found explained in elementary books, 
as applicable to this class of plants, 
By a receptacle is meant a process, often resembling Receptacle. 
a pod, and generally containing many tubercles, which pare 
in contain the seeds, as in Claudea elegans, (Plate CCLXI. 
CCLXI. Fig. 3.) ; F. vesiculosus, Fig. 4.; and F, no- Figs. 3, 4, 
dosus, Fig. 5. at aaa. e 
Tubercles are nearly solid, generally roundish, often Tubercle. 
composed of minute fibres, among which the seeds lie ; 
they frequently resemble pimples or warts, and are of- 
ten Ay her: or marked with a pore; frequently clus~ 
tered together ; sometimes half immersed in the frond; 
sometimes on short peduncles. See Plate CCLXI. Figs. 
3, 4,5, above referred.to; and also Fig. 7. ‘ Fig. 7. 
Capsules ave seed-vessels, often partly hollow ; fre. Capsule. 
quently placed singly ; smooth on the surface; some- 
times spherical, but often of a lanceolate shape, like 
minute silique. See PlateCCLXI. Fig. 10. spherical Figs. 10, 
capsules ; Fig. 11. lanceolate capsules. In some cases, !!- 
it may be observed, the terms tubercle and capsule 
become nearly synonymous; they seem to be used al- 
most promiscuously by Mr Turner, in speaking of Per 
ticular species, as F. bracteatus, gigartinus, and kali- 
formis, (Turn. t. 25, 28, 29.) 
Vesicles are the air-bladders, well known in F. vesi- Vesicle. 
culosus, Plate CCLXI. Fig. 4.6; and nodosus, Fig, 
5.6, and others ; but these vesicule have no connection 
with the fructification. 
Previous to the account of Lamouroux’s system, it 
may be right to notice very shortly some of themethods 
suggested since the time of Linnzus and Gmelin, par- 
ticularly those of Walker, Stackhouse, Roth, Decan- 
dolle, and Wahlenberg. 
Dr Walker's Method. 
The method of Dr John Walker, late professor of Method of 
natural history in the University of Edinburgh, was Dr Walker. 
never published ; but it has been kindly communicated 
by his friend Mr Charles Stewart (author of Elements 
» in ;2 vols, 8yo. 1801, and editor 
of the new edition of Dillenius’s Historia Musco- 
rum), as, contained in vol. 6th of the Doctor's Adver= 
We trust that we do ‘an acceptable 
at it 
is preferable to some later methods, but that it consti- 
tutes matter of some curiosity, and enables us to trace 
the prgetss of the science. It has besides been indi- 
rectly alluded to by Mr Turner, in his Historia Fu- 
corum, vol. i. p. 96. 
Dr Walker divides the submersed alge into fourteen 
genera: Cervina, Flabellaria, Bombycina, Annularia, 
Nodularia, Catenaria, Fucus, Platyceros, Phasganon, 
Ulva, Chartacea, Plumarium, Neurophyllum, and Spon- 
gia. Of these we shall give a very brief account, stating 
only the essential character, and the description of the 
fructification; and we think that fairness requires that the 
characters and descriptions be given in his own words. 
The Ist genus Cervina or Hornweed, has the fol- 
lowing character: “‘Coriacea, dichotoma, inarticulata, 
Fr. Vesicule terminales vel superficiales, sessiles.” It 
is divided into two sections ; compressed, as Fucus no- 
dosus; and round; as F. fastigiatus, Lin. (rotundus, 
Turn. t. 5.) By vesicule, it is scarcely necessary to re- 
mark, the author means receptacles: He uses dulla@ to 
express air-vesicles. 
2d genus, Fladellaria or Fanweed: “ Coriacea, pen- 
