77 



received from officials and growers in all parts of the world 

 was due in no small measure to his enthusiasm and charm. 

 But there are other interests that claim some attention: the 

 first airplane flights of Glenn Curtiss and the Wrights that 

 Fairchild witnessed with his father-in-law, Alexander Graham 

 Bell; experiences in making enlarged photographs of insects 

 (Monsters of our Back Yard) with a camera twenty five feet 

 long; the development of the Journal of Heredity. Over 200 

 photographs, mostly of plants and their cultivation taken in 

 many parts of the world by the author, add interest and beauty 

 to the book. 



Diatomaceae of Porto Rico* 



Joseph F. Burke 



This report, issued as a part of the Scientific Survey of Porto 

 Rico and the Virgin Islands, is an important contribution to the 

 literature on North American diatoms. The work of the author 

 was greatly facilitated by the personal possession of a nearly 

 complete library on the diatoms and by the ownership of a col- 

 lection of about 17,000 diatom slides. Thus equipped as few 

 students have the good fortune to be, and with a broad experi- 

 ence in the critical use of the microscope, it was particularly 

 fortunate that the late Dr. Nathaniel L. Britton invited him 

 to undertake this part of the Survey. 



In the Introduction he writes that nearly three hundred 

 collections were made during the years 1926, 1928, and 1929. 

 The cleaning and subsequent treatment of these collections 

 were handled personally by Mr. Hagelstein with equipment 

 used for that purpose only, a detail very important in the 

 regional study of diatoms to avoid contaminations; it shows 

 the thoroughness with which the research was carried on. 



A summary is given of previous work, by others, in the area 

 covered by the Survey. The richness of the flora is commented 

 on, with attention called to the interesting flora of the thermal 

 springs near Coamo and Ponce. Species usually considered 

 marine or brackish-water formis were found in apparently fresh 

 water. This feature is discussed. A number of plankton gather- 



* The Diatomaceae of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Robert Hagel- 

 stein. Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands, Volume VIII, 

 Part 3. New York Academy of Sciences. 1939. 138 pp., 7 pi. $2.00. 



