596 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 982 



stations in practically all temperate regions a 

 large number of species appear, often abun- 

 dantly, in late winter and early spring, only to 

 disappear before the midsummer flora is 

 established. This deficiency in data for other 

 than the summer months is in part compen- 

 sated for by a careful study which Dr. Davis 

 has made of a very limited region, " Spindle 

 Eoeks," continuing over a period of fifteen 

 months, after which the rocks were removed 

 in connection with a widening of the ship 

 channel. The eight charts given show zones 

 of growth about each rock, and the appear- 

 ance, maximum and disappearance of the vari- 

 ous species of alg£e. 



Section IV., list of the marine algse, is in- 

 tended to include all species whose occurrence 

 in the Woods Hole region is properly vouched 

 for, including many forms not noted in Sec- 

 tion II. Details of distribution, exact locali- 

 ties for rarer forms, dredging stations, seasonal 

 occurrence, references to publications and to 

 exsiccatag, with synonyms, make this section 

 very complete. The total number of species 

 and the proportions of the different classes are 

 as follows: 



Cyanophyceee 37 



Chlorophycese 48 



Phaeophyceee 66 



EhodopliyceEe 89 



Total 240 



The Woods Hole region has had prominence 

 in the marine algology of New England since 

 the publication of Farlow's list of 18Y3.'' 



In addition to the investigations of the Fish 

 Commission and its successors, of which the 

 work now under consideration is the latest re- 

 sult, the Woods Hole Marine Biological Lab- 

 oratory has maintained a summer school here 

 for over thirty years, and the records and 

 herbarium of the laboratory have been utilized 

 in making up this list, which may be consid- 

 ered as approximating completeness nearly 



= W. G. Farlow, "List of the Seaweeds or Ma- 

 rine Algse of the South Coast of New England," 

 Eeport of TJ. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries 

 for 1871-72 (1873), pp. 281-294. 



enough to justify drawing some general con- 

 clusions. Into these conclusions Dr. Davis 

 has gone in some detail; and as to the general 

 character of the flora of this region, the older 

 hypothesis seems justified, that Cape Cod is a 

 relatively sharp boundary line between a sub- 

 arctic flora, inhabiting the shores north, and a 

 warm-water flora extending south; but with 

 isolated colonies of northern plants in the 

 south, of southern plants in the north.' 



Dr. Davis's comments on the influence of 

 tides, currents, etc., seem to be well reasoned 

 out and conservative. 



The present notes give of course a very in- 

 complete idea of the fullness of the work, 

 which is noteworthy also as the first American 

 attempt to represent the distribution of algae 

 graphically, rather than by description ; indeed 

 the writer can not recall any European work 

 of the same character. Eosenvinge* in the first 

 part of his treatise on the algse of Denmark 

 has given a long list of dredgings, with data 

 of depth, bottom, etc., but there is no indica- 

 tion that any graphic representation is 

 planned. Something resembling this has oc- 

 casionally been attempted in regard to flower- 

 ing plants, as for instance by Eernald,^ Stone,* 

 but in these the shading or dotting indicates 

 an area, not a station. The charts for Spindle 

 Rocks are practically unique by their exactness 



' The distinction of an arctic flora on one side 

 of Cape Cod and a warmer flora on the other re- 

 quires some modification if exactness is wanted. 

 The "writer's observations have shown that at 

 Eastham and Welfleet, 25 miles north of Woods 

 Hole, the Massachusetts Bay shore of the cape has 

 a summer flora practically the same as that of the 

 shore of Buzzards Bay. More observations are 

 needed, but it is probable that the flora on both 

 shores of the cape is much the same. 



' L. Kolderup Eosenvinge, ' ' The Marine Algse of 

 Denmark, Contributions to their Natural History, ' ' 

 Kgl. BansTc. Vidensh. Selslc. Shrifter, 7 Eaekke,. 

 Vol. VII., No. 1. Kobehavn, 1909. 



"M. L. Fernald, "An Expedition to Newfound- 

 land and Labrador, ' ' Ehodora, Vol. XIII., p. 109, 

 1911. 



"Witmer Stone, "The Plants of Southern New 

 Jersey," Annual Eeport of the New Jersey State 

 Museum, 1910 (1911). 



