18 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLIII 



est place among the kelps as being the most specialized 

 of them all. It is a genus of the western coast, repre- 

 sented by two species, one northern, the other southern. 

 Both are extremely variable and in their many forms and 

 intergradations present to the taxonomist a problem of 

 more than usual difficulty. Some features of the mor- 

 phology of the northern species, Egregia menziesii, have 

 been presented in a paper by Eamaley ('03), illustrated 

 with some excellent figures of adult and middle-aged 

 plants, while Eeinke ('03) has also given figures and a 

 brief description of somewhat younger plants. The de- 

 velopment of this species which grows abundantly at the 

 Minnesota Seaside Station, will be worth considering in 

 detail in connection with the other kelps discussed above 

 because of its greater complexity. 



Egregia, like Nereocystis, has an extremely long stipe ; 

 indeed, in proportion to its lamina its stipe is much longer, 

 but its character is totally different from that of Nereo- 

 cystis. In the latter plant the stipe stretches from the 

 holdfast, frequently attached to a depth of twenty or 



