IV. LAMINARIACE^.— Lessonia.— Alaeia. 87 



discharging the water which it uniformly contains, only hastens the process of 

 decomposition." — H. Mert. (translated) in Hook. Bot. Misc. 3, p. 3-5. 



Little is known of this singular Alga beyond the above graphic description, and 

 the figure of Postells and Euprecht. I earnestly recommend it to the notice of all 

 collectors of plants on the North West Coast ; though it would appear to be confined 

 to Russian America. 



III. LESSONIA, Bory. 



Stem cylindrical, solid, dichotomously branched, each branch terminating in a 

 pair of lanceolate leaves. Air-vessels none. Spores collected in a thickened portion 

 of the lamina of the leaves, and there forming a subdefined, dark-coloured patch, 

 ellipsoidal, with hyaline perispore, and lying among densely packed, inarticulate 

 paranemata. 



Species of this genus probably exist on the North West Coast, but as yet I have 

 received no certain information on this subject. The Lessonia Sinclairii from 

 California, mentioned by Dr. Hooker, Fl. Antarct. vol. 2, jj. 460, must for the 

 present remain undescribed. The name was given in MSS. to a specimen existmg in 

 Sir William J. Hooker's herbarium, having the habit of Laminaria saccharina, but 

 a central patch or soriis of fructification, like that of the ordinary Lessoniaj. I 

 have no means, at present, of referring to the original specimen, and neglected to 

 make an accurate examination of it when it was named. It was gathered by Dr. 

 Sinclair at San Francisco, and is the Lam. saccharina of Harv. in Hooh and Am. 

 Bot. Beecheij, p. 407- 



IV. ALARIA, Grev. 



Root branching. Frond stipitate, membranaceous, wth a percurrent cartilagin- 

 ous midrib (a continuation of the stipes) ; the lower part of the stipe pinnated 

 with ribless leaflets. Spores collected in a thickened, central portion of the 

 leaflets, forming a deflnite, dark coloured patch, four spores contained withm each 

 pear-shaped perispore, myriads of which are vertically packed together among 

 inarticulate paranemata. 



A small genus inhabiting the colder regions of the Northern Atlantic and 

 Pacific. The lamina which forms the wing, at either side of the midrib, or 



