12(3 



tioned, and sphagnum peat is not so highly prized for fuel. A 

 small Carcx seemed to be the principal peat-forming plant. Two 

 species of Droscra grow in profusion and the heather and ling 

 thrive very well and contribute considerably to the peat. Ptcr- 

 idium and several small ferns are rather common. Sphagmun 

 and many fresh water algae grow in the holes and ditches, and 

 from such places West has made fine collections of algae, espe- 

 cially desmids. Peat bog soil has been found to be very sterile 

 and at least two years are required to reclaim it, the method in- 

 cluding throwing it up and exposing to the air, and the applica- 

 tion of fertilizers and lime. The cause of this sterility is not 

 clearly understood, and is perhaps due to the lack of some of the 

 necessary mineral salts and to the fact that the nitrogenous ma- 

 terials may not be in the best available form for plant nutrition. 

 Some of the reclaimed peat bogs are very fertile lands but if 

 neglected they quickly run back to their sterile condition. If 

 cultivation ceases the Ptcridium, heather and carices come back 

 in a few years. 



Discussion developed the fact that recent studies suggest that 

 the European Droscra rotimdifolia is distinct from the American 

 species so called. 



The second paper of the evening was by Dr. Marshall A. 

 Howe, under title of " Remarks on some West Indian Marine 

 Algae." The remarks were based chiefly upon specimens col- 

 lected by the speaker in March and April of the present year on 

 the Florida Keys and the Bahama Islands, supplemented by 

 specimens from Bermuda and Porto Rico and also by some 

 obtained on a previous visit to Key West. The discussion was 

 confined to the families Caulerpaceae and Codiaceae, members of 

 the order Siphonales and class Chlorophyccae. The family 

 Caulerpaceae, according to the more recent writers, consists of 

 the single genus Caulerpa, with jMobably si.xty or more well- 

 defined species, including plants of a great diversity of form and 

 habit. Some of the earlier phycologists, impressed by these 

 evident differences, suggested generic segregations, and it is 

 probable that some of the proposed genera are as well limited as 

 are many of the current genera among the Agaricaceae. There 



