III.—BOTANY. 
Art. XLITI.—On the Fresh-water Alge of New Zealand. 
By W. I. Spencer, M.R.C.S. England. 
[Read before the Hawke’s Bay Philosophical Institute, 11th July, 1881.] 
Plate XXIII. 
Rererence to Sir J. Hooker’s ‘‘ Handbook of the New Zealand Flora,” pp. 
645-646, will show how little attention has in this country been hitherto 
bestowed upon one of the most beautiful orders of the vegetable kingdom. 
And as one reads in paragraph after paragraph, in which the various tribes 
of the fresh-water Algw are enumerated, such statements as ‘‘ Very numer- 
ous, not hitherto collected in New Zealand””—* This beautiful fresh-water 
group has not hitherto been collected in New Zealand ”—and again, “‘ The 
Species are very numerous and have never been collected or studied in 
New Zealand,” one cannot help feeling that the reiteration suggests to the 
naturalists of this colony a powerful incentive to undertake the systematic 
study of this most remarkable and interesting order of plants. 
It is with much diffidence that I lay this paper before you to-night, 
because I feel that I am treading upon unbroken ground, and that the sub- 
ject is a vast one, involving for its complete investigation much study and 
much time, neither of which I have been able to devote to it, and also the 
Consultation and comparison of many books which have not been at my com- 
mand. Nevertheless, if my imperfect attempt has the result of drawing the 
attention of some of the many able naturalists in this country to a hitherto 
neglected section of its natural history, and of enlisting other and more 
competent workers than myself in its investigation, I shall feel that the 
object I proposed in drawing up this paper has been fully accomplished. — 
The fresh-water Alge comprise a large proportion of the Chlorospermea 
or Confervoidee; the number of green Alge which are inhabitants of sea 
Water being comparatively small. They are to be found on damp ground, . 
under the drippings of water, in ponds, streams, waterfalls, even in hot 
