74 Scientific Intelligence. 



theca is prepared, have made special studies of the flora. 

 Among the many interesting species of this collection we may 

 mention the numerous Cyanophyceae, several of which had not 

 been recorded previously in North America and which have 

 formed the subject of Prof. Setchell's paper, Notes on some Cyan- 

 ophyceae of New England, in the October number of the 

 Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. The Chlorophyceae, 

 Phaeophyceae and Rhodophyceae are represented by a number of 

 interesting species. Among the West Indian forms are the rare 

 and imperfectly known Liagora decussata Mout., collected in 

 Jamaica by Miss Pease, and the curious Hormothamnion entero- 

 morphoides Grunow, collected in Jamaica by Dr. Humphrey. 

 The Phycotheca will prove an indispensable aid to phycologists, 

 valuable not only from the excellence of the specimens but also 

 from the careful determination of the species. w. g. f. 



4. An Introduction to the Study of Seaweeds : by George Mur- 

 ray. Pp. 271, 8°, fig. 88, pi. 8. (Macmillan & Co.)— It is a long 

 time since there has appeared any general introduction to the 

 study of marine algae, and the student has been forced to depend 

 upon the common botanical text-books, in which the marine algae 

 are generally treated very inadequately in a few pages. Recent 

 investigations on the structure and development of seaweeds have 

 been numerous and important, quite overturning our former 

 views on their classification, but the results scattered through 

 numerous journals in several languages have not hitherto been 

 brought together in a way to be easily accessible. The excellent 

 book by George Murray, now in charge of the botanical depart- 

 ment of the British Museum, will be of very great service to all 

 interested in marine algae. In the Introduction, the most readable 

 chapter of the book, the writer gives an admirable account of the 

 general habits and distribution of marine vegetation, a subject 

 on which he is specially competeut to speak. There then follows 

 a classified list of works valuable for reference. The main body 

 of the book is devoted to an account of the three sub-classes, 

 Phceophyeece, Chlorophycece and Rhodophyceae, taken up in the 

 order named. There are also short chapters on the Diatomacem 

 and (Jyanophycem. The pages are so crammed with facts that 

 the book is almost encyclopaedic. We have here for the first 

 time a careful collation of what has been observed in relation to 

 the different orders up to the present time, but the writer is care- 

 ful not to confound observations with purely theoretical conclu- 

 sions, and is content with a statement of opposing theoretical 

 views without feeling obliged in all cases to decide in favor of 

 either in the present state of our knowledge. The chapters on 

 PhmophycecB and Rhodophyceae will be especially appreciated by 

 all who have to teach or lecture upon these two large and per- 

 plexing groups. The illustrations, selected from numerous mono- 

 graphs and special papers, are generally well executed, but we do 

 not think that the colored plates are quite satisfactory, although, 

 perhaps, they are as good as the low price of the book would 

 warrant. w. g. f. 



