500 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST 



[Vol. LI 



that attempt was interrupted before it had reached a successful 

 conclusion, so that no publication of the work was made. 



Brief mention of what literature we have on this subject 

 seems not to be out of place here. 



Professor Farlow (1879)^ published a description of a blue- 

 green alga, Polycystis packardii. 



Dr. A. Rothpletz (1892)2 makes mention of the presence of 

 certain genera of blue-green algse, connecting them with the for- 

 mation of peculiar ooliths on shore. Dr. Rothpletz did his 

 work as a geologist, from a geological point of view. He made 

 no systematic study of the lake from a botanical standpoint. 

 The genera of algfe he mentions — Gleothece and Gleocystis — we 

 have been unable to find in the part of the lake studied, and it 

 might be said, too, that the connection between these and the 

 ooliths has not been generally accepted, even by geologists. 



H. F. Moore (1899) ^ in reporting on the feasibility of intro- 

 ducing useful marine animals into the waters of the lake, makes 

 mention, briefly, of the presence of diatoms. As diatoms con- 

 stitute the chief food of the oyster, their presence was of con- 

 siderable importance in the investigation, and especially since 

 they are found in greatest abundance at the mouths of rivers 

 where the density of the water is more favorable for the develop- 

 ment of the oyster. 



Talmage (1900)* speaks of the presence of at least three 

 species of algae — not naming them— and, besides these, he calls 

 attention to the presence of diatoms beds off from shore, as well 

 as living diatoms in the lake. 



Miss Tilden published in her distribution entitled "American 

 Algae," several species from Great Salt Lake. This distribution 

 has not been available, therefore, more definite mention of it can 

 not be made. They are as follows : 



Aphanothece utahensis, no. 297, 



Polycystis packardii, no. 298, 



Dichothrix utahensis, no. 288, 



Enteromorpha marginata, no. 266, 



Enteromorpha tuhulosa, no. 262. 



