208 
NATURE NOTES. 
SEAWEEDS.'- 
HE number of people who take an interest in jsea- 
weeds and wish to know something of their structure 
and life-history is gradually increasing. To such the 
publication of An Intvoduction to the Study of Seaweeds, 
by Mr. George Murray, of the British Museum, will be a wel- 
come announcement. The books hitherto at the service of 
amateur collectors, though good in their way, were either too 
“ popular ” to be of much use, or were merely systematic, and it 
was impossible to form from them any clear idea of the plan 
on which seaweeds were classified. 
MACROCYSTIS PYRIFERA. 
Mr. Murray begins his book with an interesting introduction, 
in which he deals shortly with the history of the study of marine 
algae, and then goes on to point out the way in which they are 
classified into Rhodophyceis or red, Phaophycece or brown, Chloro- 
phycecB or green and Cyanophycem or blue-green. This classifica- 
tion of them, which corresponds to their colours, would seem to 
*An Introduction to the Study of Seaweeds, by George Murray. (Macmillan & 
Co., 1895, PP- 271, 88 figs., 8 coloured plates, 8vo. Price 7s. 6d.) 
