126 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [febrijaey 



the coasts of the Alaskan Peninsula do^\-n to Port Harford in Cali- 

 fornia. I have never seen any specimens which approximated to the 

 dimensions mentioned by IMertexs and Rupeecht. All along the 

 west coast, howeverj it grows out into water having a depth of 12 to 15 

 fathoms, and this, which is about 30"^, represents the length of the 

 solid portion of the stipe of the adult plant. The hollow portion, both 

 apophysis and bulb, commonly floats on the surface, as do also the 

 long leaves. Off the entrance to Yakutat Bay, Alaska, while at 

 anchor during a fog, I saw soundings taken close to and among Nereo- 

 C3^tis plants, showing that the solid portions of the stipes were 10 to 

 12 fathoms in length. Altogether the plants thus obsen^ed must have 

 been in the neighborhood of 45 to 50"^ total length, or nearly, if not 

 quite, twice as long as the maximum credited by Frye. On the coasts 

 of California, I have measured many specimens cast ashore. The 

 longest specimen, in reasonably perfect condition, I ever found cast 

 ashore was on the beach at Carmel Bay in ^Monterey County, Cali- 

 fornia. Not having a tape line, I resorted to pacing. Its greatest 

 length was 41 good paces, which by measurement of my average pace 

 fully equals that number of meters. All these figures from my own 

 experience come from plants growing in the open. From these and 

 from the experience of the great length attained by the various plants 

 growing in swift currents, I am not prepared to reject the greater 

 lengths recorded by Mertens and Ruprecht. 



Fr\-e makes some point of the rock attachment of Nereocystis 

 Luetkeana and it certainly is commonly attached to the rocks or to 

 stones. On the Californian coasts, however, I often find it anchored 

 firmly by its holdfasts to other members of the Laminariaceae, par- 

 ticularly to Pterygophora californica. I have seen stipes of Rer}'go- 

 phora to which as many as five or six holdfasts of Nereocystis were 

 attached. 



The origin of the numerous blades of Nereocystis Luetkeana has 

 been made plain through the investigations of a number of writers. 

 At first there is a single blade when the plant is in the primitive lamina - 

 rioid condition- Soon, and at about the time that the bulb is bedn- 



form. this 



are 



These 



are also in the same way separated at the base. The first 



