284 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



species gradually diminishes as you proceed southward. At Nahant, 

 out of eighty-six species, seventy-nine are common to Europe. The last 

 column includes only those common species that are actually known to 

 occur on the west coast; in reality, there are probably many more. The 

 diminution of species between Cape Cod and Charleston is owing to 

 the extent of sandy shore, on which very few algae grow. Harvey es- 

 timated that there were about three hundred conspicuous sea- weeds in 

 Great Britain, and counting the minute, not far from four hundred. 

 Even allowing that our coast has not been as thoroughly explored as 

 the British, it will be seen that, considering its great extent, it is not so 

 rich in species as the latter coast. This is, in part, owing to the sandy 

 shore of the Middle and Southern States. Compared with the western 

 coast of Europe, the localization of our florae will be noticed. They do 

 not gradually pass into one another, but are much more sharply limited, 

 particularly near Cape Cod. 



From our coast, between Maine and Key West, little is to be expected 

 hereafter in the way of new species, and the attention of algologists 

 will be turned to a search for the smaller European species, and to a 

 more accurate study of the difficult genera Callithamnion and Glado- 

 phora, and the order Oscillator iacece. There is a lack of information about 

 the winter state of our algae, and this can only be supplied by residents 

 on the shore. At present I know of no winter collections except those 

 made by ladies of Edgartown, Massachusetts. On the coast of the ex- 

 treme eastern part of Maine and the shore of the British provinces 

 much more of novelty may be expected. Many species have been de- 

 scribed from single or very few specimens from the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence, and more extensive suites than have yet been obtaiued are 

 necessary for the complete establishment of the species. 



MEL AKOSPE RME^E. 



FUCACE^E. 



1. Sargassum vulgare, AG. Common at Wood's Hole in warm, shal- 



low coves. Very variable in the length and breadth of leaves, 

 and in the ramification of the fruit-bearing branchlets, charac- 

 ters on which Harvey relies in separating this from the next 

 species. 



2. 8. Montagnei. Greenport, Long Island. Probably only a variety 



of the last, although my Greenport specimens have narrower 

 leaflets than any Sargassum gathered by me at Wood's Hole. 

 8. bacciferum I have never found washed ashore, and during the 

 summer months it is undoubtedly rare, if found at all. Said to 

 be found in great patches off Nantucket, but I have never seen 

 specimens. 



3. Fucus vesiculosus, Linn. ( Both species common as far as New York, 



4. F nodosus, Linn. C £f Cape Cod. luxunant as 110rth 



