XVII.-LIST OF THE SEA-WEEDS OR MARINE ALGil OF THE 

 SOUTH COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 



BY W. G. FAELOW, M. D. 



The following list of algse has been arranged from collections made in 

 the summer of 1870 and spring of 1871, at Greenport and Orient, Long 

 Island, but more especially at Wood's Hole and vicinity in the summer 

 of 1871. I am indebted to Professor S. F. Baird for opportunities for 

 collecting at the last-named station such as no American algologist has 

 ever before enjoyed. Mr. S. T. Olney, of Providence, Khode Island, has 

 been so kind as to place at my disposal his extensive collections of 

 Ehode Island algse, made during the years 1816-'47-'48. The collections 

 of 1816 and 1817, examined and named by Harvey, contained the types 

 of Polysiphonia Olneyi and other species. The collection of 1818 con- 

 tained some novelties, which are mentioned in the following list. Since 

 my own list was prepared, Mr. Olney has published a complete list of 

 Ehode Island algse, entitled Algw Rhodiacece. For specimens from Xew 

 Haven and Watch Hill I am indebted to Professor D. C. Eaton, of Yale 

 College; and the albums of Miss Fisher and Miss Pease, of Edgartown, 

 have furnished choice specimens from that region. 



As long ago as 1852, when the first volume of the IS^ereis Boreali- 

 Americana appeared, it was understood, in a general way, that Cape 

 Cod was the dividing line between the northern and the southern marine 

 ora. The question has since been raised whether Cape Cod is as 

 strictly the dividing line as Harvey had supposed ; whether northern 

 species do not occur at exposed southern i)oints, as Gay Head and Mon 

 oeuk, and southern species wander northward to Cape Ann. Most de- 

 cidedly, I think, such is not the case. In the first place, none of the 

 characteristic algae of the north, with a solitary exception, are found 

 south of Cape Cod. The characteristic alg?e of our northern coast are 

 Alaria esculenta, Grey.; Laminar ia longicruris^ He la Pyl. ; Agarum 

 Ttirneri, P. & E. ; Halosaccion ramentaceicm, J. Aa. ; Euthora cristata 

 J. Ag. ; P tilota serrata, KuTZ. ; Delesseria aJata, Lam., and D. simiosa 

 Lam. These are all common as far south as Nahant, except Halosaccion 

 which is common on the coast of Maine, but does not occur south of 

 Eye Beach, Xew Hampshire. From Boston Harbor to Cape Cod is a 

 desert, as far as marine vegetation is concerned, except for a short in- 

 terval at Hingham, where rocks afford a foot-hold for fucoids and chon- 

 drus, which are there gathered for the market in large quantities. Not one 

 of the algae above mentioned, except Delesseria simiosa, is found south of 



