AND THE ZOOLOGY OF CHINA 



When examined in the laboratory of the Anglo-Chinese 

 College at Eoochow this collection was found to contain the 

 following species : 



Euglena viridis Ehrenb. 

 Trachelomonas volvocina. 



Ehrenb. 

 Phacus caudata. Hiiber. 

 Pandorina morum. Bory. 

 Spirulina major. Kiitz. 

 Oscillaria princeps. Vauch. 

 Nitschia Palea Kiitz. f. t. and 



var. lanceolata. 

 N. acicularis. Kiitz. 



Gyrosigma acuminatus. Kiitz. 

 Navicula ambigua. Ehrenb. 

 Surirella ovalis. Breb. 

 Cocconeis placentula. Ehrenb. 

 Amphora ovalis. Kiitz. 

 Rhopalodia ventricosa. (Gr.) 0. 



Miill. 

 Coelastrum microporum. Naeg. 

 Botryococcus Braunii Kiitz. 

 Spirogyra varians (?). 



XIII. — The Use of Nostoc as Food in N. China. 



In many school books of botany it is stated, that in 

 China the fresh water blue-green alga Nostoc is eaten by- 

 people. This fact is regarded as remarkable, but it is re- 

 gretted that this is not sufficiently known. Nostoc is an alga 

 living in fresh stagnant water, it forms blue-green elastic, 

 semi-transparent globules or accumulations, attached to the 

 under-water plants and stones, but sometimes it is on humid 

 ground, forming original dark mucilaginous scums. 



In China the forms living on the surface of the ground 

 are used as food, and they are related to the Nostoc communis 

 Kiitz., A T . edule (?) and probably to other kinds. 



Nostoc in the Shantung province appears in summer 

 rainy time on the clayey ground and on humid soil, but when 

 the ground dries the alga contracts and begins to be im- 

 perceptible. The local population eat the Nostoc not for 

 lack of food, but simply for the same reason as mushrooms, 

 and wild vegetables are used. 



Nostoc has no particular flavour. They eat it roasted 

 with different seasonings, which give it taste. Indubitably 

 Nostoc is used in other places in China, seeing that here on 

 account of a damp climate, this alga is very common. In 

 masses it is found in June and in July near Shanghai and 

 in South China. Besides China Nostoc is used as food in 

 Northern Europe, particularly the variety which is found 

 near the shore of big and cold mountain lakes. It is the 

 plum shaped Nostoc (Nostoc pruniformis) with smooth, 

 elastic globules the size of a hen's egg of a dark blue-green 

 colour. 



XIV. — The Bibliography of the Algae of China 



and Neighbouring Countries. 

 The following is a list of^all existing publications of the 

 scientific investigations mostly on freshwater algae of China. 



