418 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
leisure for writing a complete moss flora of New Caledonia. In the 
meantime he publishes diagnoses of 21 new species, 7 varieties, and a 
new genus — Bryobrothera (for Mesoch te crenulatct) ; also records of 
9 other additions to the flora, and several critical notes and correc- 
tions. A. G. 
Mosses of Annam. — I. Theriot {Revue Bryologique, 1922, 6-9, 
figs.). A report on a collection of 14 mosses made in Annam by 
F. Yincens, including 2 new species and 3 additional species for the 
Asiatic moss flora. A. G. 
Contributions to the Bryological Flora of Ecuador. — Y. F. 
Brotherus {Revue Bryologique, 1920, 1-16, 35-46). An enumeration 
of the mosses collected by the late Abbe Michel Allioni in the provinces 
of Oriente and Azuay in 1909-1910. The mosses of Oriente were 
previously unknown and contain several new species and a new genus. 
The total of species recorded in the present list is 160, and 35 of these 
are new to science. The new genus referred to is Allionella, belonging 
to the Sematophyllacese ; it has been described in Ofvers. FinsJc. Vet. 
Soc. Fosh., 1910, 53 , No. 15, with figures by Gyorffy. A. G. 
Contribution to the Moss Flora of Kikouyou. — R. Potier de 
la Yarde {Revue Bryologique, 1920, 49-54, figs.). An account of 
29 mosses collected near Nairobi in British East Africa by J. Soul in 
1912. Five new species and some new varieties are described. A. G. 
Hildebrandtiella Soulii. — R. Potier de la Yarde {Revue 
Bryologique, 1921, 9-11, figs.). A diagnosis by Brotherus and the 
writer. The species was collected with other mosses by J. Soul in 
Usambara. A. G. 
Thallophyta. 
Algae. 
Investigation of the Plankton of the Irish Sea. — Sir William 
A. Herdman {Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot., 1922, 46 , 141-70, 1 pi.). A 
summary of the results of continuous investigation of the plankton of 
the Irish Sea during fifteen years. It is found that the spring phyto- 
plankton maximum may range from March to June, and is chiefly 
composed of diatoms, comprising first Chsetoceros and later Rhizosolenici. 
A month later comes the dinoflagellate maximum, and later still comes 
the copepod maximum. The organisms are more evenly distributed 
over the sea and downwards during the spring diatom maximum than 
at other times of the year. As a general rule the largest hauls come 
not from the surface, but from about 5 fathoms below ; and most 
marine organisms seem to find their optimum of sunlight not in the 
maximum at the surface, but in the twilight lower down. The Irish 
Sea plankton is a mixture of oceanic and neritic organisms, varying in 
proportion according to the season. The dominant organisms of the 
plankton, whether diatoms or Copepoda, consists of a comparatively 
small number of genera, and these are the all-important organisms upon 
which the nutrition of higher animals, and ultimately of the food-fishes, 
