1038 
CONFERENCE NOTES FOR FEBRUARY AND MARCH 
The regular monthly conference of the staff and registered stu- 
dents of the Garden was held on the afternoon of February 5, 
I9IQ. 
Dr. Marshall A. Howe discussed the North American species 
of Liagora, illustrating his talk by specimens, both dry and in 
fluid, and showing the microscopic structure of the plants by 
drawings. The following is an abstract of his remarks: 
““ Liagora is a genus of red algae, confined in its geographic 
distribution to the warmer seas, its species being found chiefly 
in water that is normally agitated. The speaker recognized ten 
species as occurring in North American waters, one of these being 
Californian and the other nine, including two about to be de- 
scribed as new, being found in the West Indian region, some of 
them ranging as far north as Bermuda. The original specimens 
or at least authentic material of all the species attributed to 
North America have been examined and as a result some reduc- 
tions of names to synonymy have been made. Special attention 
has been given to the character and mode of distribution of the 
antheridia, important characters that hitherto have been rarely 
mentioned in the describing of species. Nothing has been found 
that could be certainly interpreted as tetraspores or as a non- 
sexual alternating generation bearing sporangia of any kind. 
However, at least four of the West Indian species often show 
: minute flat orbicular discs lying on the general surface of the plant 
: or somewhat immersed among the assimilatory filaments. The 
darker red color of these discs, their dorsiventral rather than rad- 
ial symmetry, and the lack of any very obvious genetic contin- 
uity with the Liagora give plausibility to the first impression that 
_ they are independent organisms or perhaps obligate parasites of 
species of Liagora. But the truth seems to be that they arise 
from gonidia, gemmae, or aplanospores derived from the terminal 
or subterminal cells of the assimilatory filaments of the Liagora. 
This was the view of Kiitzing, who described and figured similar 
structures in a Red Sea species of Liagora as long ago as 1858, 
since which time nothing seems to have been added to our know!- 
