BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
50 
romantic beliefs and unsubstantial theories of a less enlightened 
age.” It is also felt that “ some will come as revelations of the 
Master’s work in the most minute of His creations.” The work, 
as its title suggests, deals with Cryptogams only, and in addition 
to the romantic side there is a considerable amount of up-to-date 
information relating to structure and mode of life, which will prove 
of service to those who wish to know something about the lower 
plants, and yet shrink from the task of obtaining it from what they 
consider to be § scientific hook. The numerous figures will be of 
great assistance in making clear the various subjects touched upon. 
On the Siliceous Deposit in the Cortex of Certain Species of Sela- 
ginella , Spr. — R. J. Harvey Gibson; Ann. Bot., Yol. vii, 
p. 355, 1 pi. 
Previous to the appearance of the present work, the presence 
of silica had only been recorded in one species of Selaginella. 
We now learn that silica is present in sixteen species. In S. 
Martensii , Spr., var. compacta , A. Br., which was examined in 
detail, as illustrating the usual mode of mineralization, the silica 
occurs in the form of irregular, colourless plates on the cortical 
wall of the lacuna of the stem ; it is also present both in the walls 
of the innermost cortical cells and on the swollen cells of the com- 
pound trabeculas. From a careful analysis it is concluded that 
oxide of silica is taken up by the plant as a soluble silicate of 
magnesia or of lime, or possibly as a double silicate of these bases. 
NEW OR CRITICAL BRITISH ALGiE. 
By E. A. L. Batters, B.A., LL.B., F.L.S. 
Mr. E. M. Holmes, F.L.S., has kindly sent us some British 
marine algas for confirmation, three, at least, of which have not 
previously been recorded as occurring on the shores of Britain. 
Entophysalis granulosa, Kiitz. Phyc. genr ., p. 177. 
This most interesting alga, which Mr. Holmes found on rocks 
near high-water mark, mixed with Calothrix scopulorum, Sym- 
ploca hydnoides , and other algas, near Portland, is the representa- 
tive of a genus new to our shores. It forms more or less 
gelatinous glaeocapsa-like layers, of a blackish-brown colour, over 
rocks at high-water mark. The cells of which the layers are com- 
posed are united into colonies which assume a more or less 
dendritic form, the plant thus differing from Glccocapsa, which it 
resembles in every other respect. The layers are cartilaginous, 
warty, and of a brownish or yellowish-black colour, and very brittle. 
The cells are from 3-6 p in diameter. The cell-walls thick and 
occasionally lamellated. 
