MARINE ALG. 
(Sea WEEDS.) 
Geographically considered, Essex county waters extend from, and 
include, Salisbury beach on the north to Saugus river on the south, 
but in more general terms the region from Boston northward to 
Portsmouth may be considered as‘representing our marine flora as a 
more natural division; or, the north shore of Massachusetts Bay and 
the north shore of Cape Ann, or Ipswich Bay, and the sand beaches 
northward. The flora of this region is an interesting one. Cape Cod 
projecting its long arm into the sea seems to form a natural barrier 
to the progress of southern species northward, for here the warm 
current of the Gulf stream bears off to the eastward, while between 
it and the shore north of Cape Cod, the almost expended influences 
of the cold Labrador current are slightly felt. A very marked separa- 
tion is therefore made between the Arctic and southern marine flora 
and fauna making our waters quite Arctic in their character. Yet in 
warm places along the shore a few daring southern species have taken 
up their abode, while some northern ones are to be found south of 
Cape Cod, besides the species termed cosmopolitan which flourish 
both north and south. Hence, we find the Essex county waters to be 
the northern limit of many species-and the southern limit of others, 
therefore, it becomes very desirable to give as far as possible the 
precise localities of specimens collected. This list has been prepared 
from the private lists of Mrs. M. H. Bray of Gloucester, Rev. A. B. 
Hervey of Taunton, who has passed his summer vacations of late at 
Marblehead Neck, Mr. Frank S. Collins? of Malden, whose careful col- 
lecting has extended from Nahant to Cape Ann, the herbarium of the 
Peabody Academy of Science, and the papers by Prof. W. G. Farlow 
of Harvard College, in Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts 
and Sciences, Vol. X, 1875, and in the Report of the U. S. Fish Com- 
mission for 1876. Prof. Farlow, although his time is fully occupied 
with more important matters, has most kindly reviewed the writer’s 
manuscript relating to the Marine Alge, offering valuable suggestions 
and adding several notes which will be found below. It is thought 
that this list is quite complete, lacking only those species which have 
not as yet been published, or are not yet fully determined, of very 
recent collection. 
3 Mr. Collins has kindly revised the list to the present date, November, 1880. 
’ (157) 
