153 



filled with a minute alga. Several notes and papers reporting the 

 progress of the investigations were published, the principal of 

 these being a paper on " Some Algae of Minnesota, supposed to 

 be Poisonous," printed in the Bulletin of the Minnesota Academy 

 of Natural Sciences (3 : 97-103. 1885). Direct experiments 

 in the way of allowing thirsty animals to drink of water well 

 charged with the alga were followed by no bad results, so that 

 the general conclusion was " that the death of the animals is 

 probably not due to the suspected algae and that no clue to the 

 real cause has yet been obtained." Mrs. Smith states that no 

 reports of any poisonous action of the algae at the time of the 

 " flowering " of the Adirondack lakes have come to her attention. 

 The Minnesota alga was first referred to Rivularia fliiitans, but 

 later, following the opinion of Bornet, it was called Gloiotrichia 

 Pisum. Subsequently Bornet and Flahault * included Rivularia 

 fliiitans in the synonymy of Gloiotrichia Pisum. 



Through the courtesy of Professor Farlow the writer has seen 

 a specimen of the Minnesota plant collected by him in Lake 

 Minnetonka in August, 1883, and a comparison of this with the 

 Chilson Lake specimens affords no ground for suspicion that the 

 two are not the same species, though the former is spore-bearing 

 and the latter are not. 



In 1888, Professor Trelease, in a paper entitled "The 'Work- 

 ing' of the Madison Lakes," f refers to Gloiotrichia Pisum as one 

 of several blue-green algae which are responsible for the " work- 

 ing " of the lakes in the vicinity of Madison, Wisconsin. A con- 

 siderable bibliography of this interesting subject is appended to 

 Professor Trelease's paper and to this the reader may be re- 

 ferred for citations of literature which need not be repeated here. 

 The phenomenon is well known in England as the " breaking of 

 the meres " and in Germany as " Wasserbluthe." 



In 1 894, Richter contended for the specific separation | of 

 Gloiotrichia cchinulata (Sm.) P. Richt. and G. Pisum (Ag.) Thuret 

 and a little later in the same year § wrote Rivularia fliiitans as a 



*Ann. Sci. Nat. VII. 4 : 366. 1886. 



fTrans. Wis. Acad. Sci. 7: 121-129. 1888. 



% Forschungsber. Biol. Sta. Pl5n, 2: 31-47. 1894. 



I Hauck and Richter, Phyk. Univ. Fasc. XII., No. 587. 1894. 



