No. 384.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 959 
described and figured, viz.: Stenopus scutellatus, Leander northrofi, 
Alpheus hippothoé de Man, var. bahamensis, Alpheus nigro-spinatus, 
and Athanas ortmanni. Descriptions are given also of Uca Zepto- 
dactyla Guerin MS., Stenopus hispidus Latreille, and S. semilevis 
von Martens, and the two species of Stenopus are figured. The 
common Gonodactylus of the West Indies is mentioned under the 
name G. æstedii Hansen, although the difference between this form 
and G. chiragra Fabr. of the East Indies is very slight. R.P.B. 
BOTANY. 
A Monograph of the Genus Caulerpa.1— There is hardly any 
group of algæ so fascinating as the genus Caulerpa, though there is 
hardly any genus, certainly none among alge of the same size, con- 
cerning which the known facts, except as to external form, are so 
few. A genus so distinctly marked that there is no question whatever 
as to its limits ; containing from fifty to one hundred species, accord- 
ing as one takes the broader or the narrower idea of a species; the 
plants having a beauty, and at the same time a variety almost unri- 
valed, differentiated into a creeping stolon, sometimes several feet 
in length, roots going deep into the sand, and erect fronds, often 
very richly branched; and yet the whole plant consisting of a single 
cell. Abundant in all tropical and subtropical waters, an object of 
study by botanists for over fifty years, we are to-day absolutely 
ignorant of any form of reproduction other than by a portion of a 
frond breaking off and maintaining an independent existence and 
growth. 
Not the least curious character of the Caulerpa is the manner in 
which the erect fronds mimic the various higher plants. A list of 
the names of the twelve sections of the genus gives some idea of 
this ; they are Vaucherioidex, Charoide, Bryoidex, Zosteroidez, 
Phyllantoidez, Filicoidee, Hippuroidez, Lycopodioidex, Thuyoidezx, 
Araucarioidex, Paspaloidez, and Sedoidee ; and in the specific 
names this is carried still further, as in C. hazifai; C. selago, C. erici- 
Jolia, C. cactoides, etc. 
As usual in large genera, there is likely to be Sadio differ- 
ence of opinion as to the limits of species, especially when, as in this 
1 Monographie des Caulerpes, par Mme. A. Weber-Van Bosse. Annales du 
Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg, tome xv, pp. 243-401, Pls. XX-XXIv. 
