A KEY TO THE HIGHER ALGZ OF THE ATLANTIC 
7 COAST, BETWEEN NEWFOUNDLAND 
AND FLORIDA. 
BY PROF. D. 8. JORDAN. 
Is the preparation of this Key, the principal work of which use 
has been made is Prof. W. H. Harvey’s Nereis Boreali-Amer- 
icana. The characters of; the higher groups have been to a great 
extent copied or abridged from that work, and Harvey’s Nomen- 
clature and arrangement of families have been generally followed. 
In several instances, doubtful species have been suppressed or 
mitted. 
Although the number of species recognized by Harvey is much 
less than has been admitted by previous writers, a still further 
reduction would be an advantage. Perhaps one-sixth of the 
species described in the Nereis might with propriety be consid- 
ered as varieties. ; j 
The author has tried to render the Key as simple, compact and 
easy of comprehension as possible. Obvious characters, Wa% 
ever available, have been used in preference to technical ones, 
as the structures on which the classification is really based are 
microscopic and often hard to ascertain. 
Special technical terms are generally avoided, and those not . 
used in Gray’s “Manual of Botany” are defined where they , 
occur. 
Among plants so little known and which vary 8° widely 8 
the Algæ, a synoptical table by which any specimen in any oe 
dition may be identified, is, of course, impossible, but it is hoped | 
that this Key is sufficiently plain. and accurate that nine sper 
mens in every ten may be readily classified by its aid. ; 
Sus-Ciass I. MELANOSPERMEZ. 
(OLIVE-GREEN ALGZ). 
Plants olive-green or olive-brown, never showing tints of re - 
Fructification monecious or diœcious. Spores olive-colore’y 
either external or contained singly or in groups in prope concer 
(898) : 
i 
