78 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
them, and that oil is not nearly so universally present as has been stated 
by Hansen. Phloroglucin is generally present, usually accompanied by 
oil ; but the latter was not found in Fucus, and only doubtfully in 
Hydroclathrus. The author does not agree with Crato, that the drops 
or vesicles which he terms physodes * * * § are endowed with an independent 
power of motion. They are invariably enclosed in a layer of protoplasm, 
to .which their motility must be ascribed. Whether these vesicles are 
small vacuoles or actual products of assimilation, the author was unable 
to determine. 
All the Florideae examined contained bodies closely resembling 
starch-grains in their appearance and their properties. This substance 
is not an excretory product, but is used up by the plant in the formation 
of other nearly related bodies. 
Antherids of Florideae. f — Mr. T. H. Buffham continues his descrip- 
tion of the reproductive organs, especially the antherids, in a large 
number of Florideae in which they have not hitherto been accurately 
described. The antherids of Choreocolax Polysiphonise are described for 
the first time ; also the male plant of Harveyella mirabilis. In addition, 
descriptions are also given of the nematheces of Ahnfeldtia plicata , and 
of the cystocarps of Flumarin elegans ; the so-called naked favellae in 
this sea-weed are, in reality, non-sexual polysporanges. 
Myriophylla, a new Genus of Florideae.J — Among a number of 
new species of sea-weeds from Natal, Mr. E. M. Holmes describes a new 
'genus Myriophylla , with the following diagnosis: — Frons gelatinoso- 
carnosa, cylindraceo-compressa, stratis duobus contexta, interiore cellulis 
magnis oblongis pluriseriatis, cellulis minoribus interstitiis replentibus, 
superficiem versus cellulis gradatim minoribus strato corticali tenui, 
cellulis minutis constituente ; sphaerosporae in phyllis minutis lanceolatis 
■obtusis totam frondem super basim dense distiche obtegentibus, cruciatim 
divisae, in strato corticali immersse. It probably belongs to the Rhody- 
meniaceae. 
Choreocolax albus sp. n.§ — Dr. P. Kuckuck finds on Fhodomela 
subfusa, on the shores of Heligoland, a parasitic alga belonging to the 
Florideae, which he regards as a new species of Choreocolax. It differs 
from all other known species of Florideae in the entire absence of 
chromatophores and leucoplasts, and is therefore a true parasite, a 
character which it shares only with Harveyella mirabilis ; all the other 
so-called parasitic algae being, according to the author, merely endo- 
phytes, capable of self-assimilation. The protoplasm is also destitute of 
vacuoles. Like other true parasites, it is confined to the cell-walls of 
the host, pressing the cells aside without entering them. In its structure 
it resembles the Squamariaceae, but the only reproductive organs at pre- 
sent detected are tetraspores ; and, until the cystocarps have been found, 
the systematic position of Choreocolax cannot be definitely determined. 
* Cf. this Journal, 1893, p. 58. 
t Journ. Quekett Micr. Club, v. (1893) pp. 291-305 (2 pis.). See Grevillea, 
xxii. (1894) p. 119. Cf this Journal, 1891, p. 777. 
% Ann. Bot., viii. (1894) pp. 335-42 (1 pi.). 
§ SB. K. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1894, pp. 983-7 (1 pi.). Cf. this Journal, 
1891, p. 778. 
