OLIVE COLORED ALG^E. 87 



from their base of a foot or so, forked, and bore 

 on each part a long, broad tongue -shaped leaf, two 

 or three feet long, and as many inches broad. 



Prof. Eaton has kindly sent me a copy of Areschoug's 

 description (in Botaniska Notiser for May 15, 1876), 

 of what he, with some hesitation, names a new species : 

 N. gigattfea, which answers very well to Mr. Cleveland's 

 plant. It would seem to be an easy matter for our 

 California botanists to settle the question of whether 

 or not these two extreme forms are always distinct, 

 or insensibly pass into each other, in a large group 

 of specimens ; or whether the first is but the 

 young of which the last is the mature form, as some 

 botanists seem to think. Mr. Cleveland assures me 

 that the last described form is quite constant. 



It is a very common plant, growing in deep water, 

 all along the west coast, at all seasons, and is flung 

 on shore in great quantities by the storms. 



Genus.— FOSTELSIA, Rupr, 



POSTELSIA* PALM/EFORMIS,t RuPR. 



This species is quite common on the west coast 



* Postelsia, named for A. Postels, a fellow-botanist with Ruprecht. 

 I Palmaeformis = Palm-shaped. 



