1 1 .— B OTANY 



Art. XXXI. — On the New Zealand Desmidieae. Additions to Catalogue 

 and Notes on various Species. By W. M. M&skell, F.R.M.S. 

 [Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 5th Ootober, 1882.] 

 Plates XXIV. and XXV. 

 The following paper consists of two parts : — First, a list, with descriptions 

 and figures, of those plants which I have been able to add to my former 

 catalogue ; and secondly, notes upon some of the species described or men- 

 tioned in my paper, vol. XIII. of the Transactions, 1880, p. 297. 



Several of the plants given in the following list have come to me in 

 gatherings from Hawke's Bay, and I must express my thanks to Dr. 

 Spencer, of Napier, who has kindly forwarded these gatherings, and in 

 other ways materially assisted me. Indeed, strictly speaking, I have no 

 right to include these in my paper : but Dr. Spencer informs me that he is 

 not able this year to publish them. I understand that he proposes shortly 

 to describe several new species in other families of Algae. 



In order to mark the plants so sent to me I have put after each the 

 letter S, in all cases where I had not previously found the plant in Canter- 

 bury or elsewhere myself. 



I have also to thank Professor Nordstedt, of Lund, for sending me papers 

 of his upon Desniidieae and other Algae, which have been of great service ; 

 also Mr. Joshua, F.L.S., of Cirencester, England, who kindly sent me, a few 

 months ago, a number of tubes containing gatherings of Algae from various 

 parts of England. In these tubes, although I have not yet thoroughly ex- 

 amined them, I have found, so far, more than fifty species of Desmidiea3, many 

 of which are uncommon, and all have been of great use to me for comparison 

 with the New Zealand forms. 



My works of reference have been increased since 1880 by the addition 

 of Rabenhorst's " Flora Europaea Algarum," Pritchard's " Infusoria," the 

 " Annals and Magazine of Natural History," and others. Examination of 

 these has not compelled me to abandon any of the species which I set down 

 in my former paper as new, with the exception, perhaps, of Staurastrum 

 (Didymocladon) stella and Docidmm dilatatum. The former may possibly be 

 S. furcigerum or 8. sexangulare : the latter is said by Mr. Archer to be pro- 

 bably D. ovatum, Nordstedt. 



I have been fortunate enough in the last two years to find some species 

 of Desmidieae in conjugation, with attached zygospores, notably Cosmarinm 



