Ig12] CURRENT LITERATURE 85 
Ecology of Australian algae.—The Yan Yean Reservoir, with an area of 
1460 acres and an average depth of 24 feet, furnishes part of the water supply 
for the city of Melbourne, distant about 25 miles. From regular collections 
made from its waters for a period of 13 months, Wrst” has studied the compo- 
sition, distribution, and periodicity of its phytoplankton and its littoral algal 
flora. The most striking feature of the plankton is the richness of its desmid 
flora. The desmids reach their dominance during the warm period, from Feb- 
ruary to May, and their minimum during the succeeding cold months from 
June to October. During this cold period the crustaceans are dominant. The 
absence of the usual blue-green algal element at all times of the year is another 
noteworthy feature of-the plankton. 
The littoral algal flora is rich in species, contains many interesting types: and 
exhibits three rather well marked phases during the year. From November 
to January, with a rising temperature, there is a dominance of the Oedogoni- 
aceae and Zygnemaceae, with an increasing quantity of the Desmidiaceae; 
these last reach their climax during the following warm months. The col 
months of September and October show very little algal life. Of the 300 or 
more species of algae collected, 14 species and 11 varieties are described for the 
first time.—Gro. D. FULLER 
Vegetation of the Kermadec Islands.—From their position midway be- 
tween New Zealand and the Polynesian Islands, these small islands of volcanic 
origin and subtropical climate exhibit many features of botanical interest. 
Sunday Island, the largest of the group, with an area of about 30 sq. km., 
has been visited by OL1veR,® who spent ten months studying the vegetation. 
An annual rainfall of about 225 cm., well distributed throughout the year, 
with the mild climate, produces a forest composed entirely of broad-leaved 
evergreens, with a conspicuous number of epiphytes. Among the tree mem- 
bers of this formation, two endemic tree ferns (Cyathea) are conspicuous, 
attaining a height of 20 m., and appearing as the dominant members of one of 
the forest associations. The epiphytes are principally filmy and other ferns. 
Only 12 of the 114 species of vascular plants are endemic, a small proportion 
when compared with the flora of other isolated Pacific islands, and this fact, 
along with certain geologic evidence, leads to the conclusion that the islands are 
not older than the Pliocene. The relationship of their flora with those of New 
Zealand, Australia, and Polynesia is traced.—Gro. D. FULLER. 
Vegetation in the Dovrefjeld.— During a month spent in the upper Driva 
Valley, the Wrsts® made an ecological survey of the alpine associations of 
7 West, G. S., The algae of the Yan Yean agers Victoria; a biological and 
es tu. = Linn. Soc. 39: 1-88. pls. 6. figs. 10. T1909. 
% OLIVER, REGINALD B., ih beet of the gh Islands. Trans. New 
Zealand =o 42: pane pls. 18-33. 1909. 
%? West, W. and G. S., Sketches of vegetation at home and abroad V. The 
ecology of the upper Driva Valley in the Dovrefjeld. New Phytol. 9:353-374. 
pls. 3,4. figs. 23-32. TQI0. 
