Botany. 479 



Mass.; the former derived from the late Charles Wright's collec- 

 tions, the latter from those of our old friend the late B. D. Greene, 

 who largely collected aquatic plants in Tewksbury swamp, while 

 the collector in Georgia seems to be unknown. A double plate 

 contains figures of thirty species. Sixteen species are new or 

 newly named and characterized. a. g. 



4. Notarisia. Edited by Drs. G. B. de Toxi and David 

 Levi. Venice, 1886. — Following the custom of mycologists in 

 naming their journals in honor of leading mycologists, two young 

 Venetian phycologists have started a journal to be devoted to 

 the interests of phycology and have named it after the distin- 

 guished Italian cryptogamist, the late Professor G. de Notaris. 

 The journal is to be issued quarterly, and the first two numbers, 

 which have already appeared, give evidence that it will be of great 

 service to students of Algae. There is a summary of species of 

 marine and fresh- water Algae recently described, together with a 

 review of recent papers on Algae. The reviews and summaries 

 are very convenient, as they present in a compact form the results 

 of papers scattered through a large number of journals. The de- 

 scriptions of species are in Latin, but it is to be regretted that the 

 reviews are in Italian, a language which comparatively few bot- 

 anists can read with accuracy. As all educated Italians can read 

 and write French with ease, it would probably not be difficult for 

 the editors to substitute French for Italian in their journal, a 

 change which would be welcomed by all foreign subscribers, on 

 whom Notarisia must depend largely for support. The journal 

 also has some original articles of value by Lagerheim, who writes 

 in French, and Borzi, while the editors contribute a scheme of the 

 genera of F lor ideas, adapted to Ardissone's Phycologia. The 

 articles are illustrated by several lithographic plates. w. G. r. 



5. Phycologia Mediterranea. By Professor F. Ardissone. 

 Varese, 1883. — Professor Ardissone, the Director of the Botanic 

 Garden of Milan and President of the Societa Crittogamologica 

 Italiana, published in 188G the first volume of his Phycologia 

 Mediterranea in the Memoirs of this Society ; but it is not until 

 recently that copies have been received in this country. It in- 

 cludes the Floridew and Dictyotaceas, and forms a large, well- 

 printed volume of over 500 pages. The algae of the Mediterra- 

 nean have been studied by botanists of reputation for many years, 

 but there has not hitherto appeared any work treating of them 

 collectively. The first part of the Phycologia is all that the repu- 

 tation of the author as the leading phycologist of Italy would 

 lead one to expect. The synonymy is full, the descriptions clear 

 and never diffuse, and the notes on distribution and microscopic 

 structure show a wide reading and large study. It is to be hoped 

 that Professor Ardissone will soon be able to issue a second vol- 

 ume including the remaining orders and thus supply the great 

 want of a complete treatise on the marine flora of the northern 

 coast of the Mediterranean. w. G. P. 



