FOREWORD. 
& 
The accompanying report by Prof. W. D. Hoyt is one of a series relating to the 
aquatic resources of the region adjacent to the biological station of the Bureau of Fish- 
eries at Beaufort, N. C. This work comprises a scientific account of the marine alge, 
commonly known as seaweeds, and is based on prolonged studies at the Beaufort station. 
The report is necessarily technical, but the author has endeavored to make it generally 
useful and has made the identification of the species clear by means of illustrations and 
simple keys. The result is a serviceable handbook for those who, for one reason or 
another, have occasion to identify the seaweeds. 
The question may be asked, Why should the Bureau of Fisheries be interested in 
marine alge? Excluding purely scientific considerations, there may be recalled the 
well-known fact that all animals depend on plants for food, and this is as true of water 
animals as of land animals. It matters not if a particular fish confines its diet to smaller 
fish or other animals rather than to plants. These smaller forms must feed upon some- 
thing. At the end of the chain in every case there are plants of one kind or another, all 
engaged as busy little factories for the manufacture of food for fishes out of the inorganic 
materials which are otherwise useless or unavailable to fish. If we value fish and 
shellfish, we must be interested in the sources of their food; that is to say, in the seaweeds 
as well as in the innumerable minute plants of the sea and its bottom which do not come 
within the scope of this report. 
It should not be overlooked that seaweeds have a direct economic importance. On 
other parts of the United States coasts, and more particularly in other countries, alge 
are used in the natural state as food or as the basis for the preparation of food articles, 
such as gelatins. They constitute the raw materials from which are derived valuable 
commercial products, such as agar-agar, essential in bacteriological work; iodine, one 
of the most useful of all medical bases; and potash, a highly prized fertilizer. 
The present report could not enter into a discussion of these economic relations, but 
it contributes the foundation of knowledge as to what the waters of the South Atlantic 
coast have in the way of alge. It has been the labor of years, and, while the cost to the 
Government has been nominal, the results are of permanent value, especially in view 
of the fact that the algee of the region have remained almost unknown. 
It has not been possible for the author to consult every publication cited, and he 
has not had access to the type specimens of many of the species. Additional species will 
undoubtedly be found from time to time. These considerations, however, do not 
detract from the importance of the work. 
H. M. Smiru, 
Commissioner of Fisheries. 
368 
