340 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



lantic States, continuing the exploration of our Algce down 

 to Florida and the Keys ; and in May, 1850, he returned to 

 Ireland. Under the wise and liberal arrangements made by 

 Professor Henry in behalf of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 and with his own large collections augmented by the contribu- 

 tions which every student or lover of Algce was glad to place 

 in such worthy hands, Professor Harvey now prepared his 

 " Nereis Boreali- Americana, or Contributions to a History of 

 the Marine Algae of North America." The work is a sys- 

 tematic account of all the known Marine Algce of North 

 America, but with figures only of the leading species. It was 

 issued in three parts : the first part, the Melanospermece, in 



1852, in the third volume of the Smithsonian Contributions to 

 Knowledge ; the second, Rhodospermece, in the fifth volume ; 

 and the third, or C/ilorospermece, in the tenth volume of the 

 series, published in 1858 ; and the three parts, collected for 

 separate issue, compose a thick imperial quarto volume, of 

 five hundred and fifty pages of letter-press and fifty plates. 

 The work remains the principal if not the only guide to the 

 American student of Algce, and one of the most popular as 

 well as useful of the various contributions to knowledge 

 which the well-managed bequest of Smithson has given to 

 the world. 



Before the last part of the "Nereis Boreali- Americana " 

 was published, Professor Harvey had sought a wider field of 

 scientific labor and observation. Obtaining a long leave of 

 absence, and some assistance from the University in addition 

 to the continuance of his salary, he left England in August, 



1853, by the overland route for Australia, stopping at Aden 

 and Ceylon to collect : he visited the east, south, and west 

 coasts of Australia, as well as Tasmania. Taking advantage 

 of a missionary ship, which was to cruise among the South Sea 

 Islands, and which offered him unexpected facilities, he vis- 

 ited the Fiji, Navigators', and Friendly Islands, touching also 

 at New Zealand. Eeturning to Sydney, he sailed to Valpa- 

 raiso, which he reached much prostrated through over-exer- 

 tion in a warm climate ; and when recuperated he re- 

 turned home by way of the Isthmus, arriving in October, 



