78 collins and hehvey. 



Family FUCACEAE. 

 AscoPHTLLUM Stackhousc 



A. NODOSUM (L.) Le Jolis, 1863, p. 96; Fucus nodosus Linnaeus, 

 1763, p. 1628; Harvey, 1846-51, PI. CLVIII. Wadsworth, in Farlow 

 herb.; Inlet, Jan., May, Gravelly Bay, Feb., Shelly Bay, March, 

 Hervey; Gravelly Bay, April, Shelly Bay, Bethel's Island, Dee., 

 Collins. This species is not uncommonly found among the floating 

 algae left by the tide but it has never been found attached, and as it 

 is a conspicuous plant, it is not likely that it has been overlooked. It 

 is common on the American coast from New Jersey to the arctic 

 regions, but rarely reaches to low water mark, and does not grow in 

 places exposed to the full force of the waves. There is no reason to 

 suppose that it grows here in deep water, or on the outer reefs awash 

 with the waves, the only class of localities not well explored. Prof. 

 Sauvageau, to whom we are much indebted for information as to its 

 habits in Europe, writes us "Jamais je n'ai vu VAscophyllum dans 

 les stations franchement expos^es au choc des vagues, mais toujours 

 dans les stations plus ou moins abritees, par exemple dans les anses 

 rocheuses, dans les petits ports, sur les rochers qui emergent parmi 

 la vase. C'est une plante de mi-maree." As regards the general 

 question of brown algae washed ashore in places on the Bay of Biscay, 

 where they do not grow, he says, "En resume, VAscophyllum, rejete, 

 arrive en tr^s bon etat, fructifie ou non, selon la saison, mais on ne 

 pent dire s'il a flotte trfes longtemps, puisqu'il vit sur les rochers &. une 

 trentaine de kilometres de la. L' Himanthalia est dans le mime cas. 

 Mais le Cystoseira concatenata et le Sargassum vulgare viennent sure- 

 ment de tres loin, et cependant leurs organes reproducteurs sont aptes 

 a la fecondation. Les algues brunes, normalment fixees, se conservent 

 trfes bien a I'etat flottant, beaucoup mieux qu'on le croit generalment. 

 Done, k mon avis, il n'est nuUement n^cessaire que VAscophyllum 

 croisse aux Bermudes pour que vous I'y trouvez rejete; il peut y 

 arriver en tres bon etat, et mime capable de produire des fecondations 

 et des germinations, bien qu'U provienne d'un pays lointain et qu'il 

 ait flotte longtemps." It seems to us quite unlikely that the plants 

 found at Bermuda could have come from the American coast across 

 the Gulf Stream. The chances are certainly greater for its European 

 origin, and there is good reason to suppose that it forms a portion, 



