S83 
M. L3rngbye on the Algce, 
Natural History in the University of Edinburgh, who was par- 
ticularly attached to the. study of this series of plants, conceived 
and executed a systematic arrangement of them in the year 1771. 
In his method, the whole are divided into fourteen genera, and 
the generic characters, which are founded partly on the fruit, and 
partly on the forms and structure of the species, possess consi- 
derable merit In 1793 — 1797, Stackhouse published an ar- 
rangement of Fuci, in his work entitled Nereis Britannica ; and 
in 1816, in a new edition of the same work, the system is ex- 
tended, by the addition of numerous new genera. The first 
edition of the Nereis Britannica contained curious observations, 
and good figures, of several rare species ; but in the new edi- 
tion, unfortunately, the figures are miserable, and unworthy a 
British artist. The whole family is there divided into thirty- 
five genera ; but these do not appear to be constructed on any 
fixed character or series of characters. This work, therefore, 
although it contains interesting observations, cannot be com- 
mended for its systematic arrangement. The industrious Roth, 
the celebrated Decandolle, and the enterprising and enthusiastic 
Walilenberg, have also attempted to form the fuci into genera, 
but unsuccessfully. Lamouroux, an ingenious French natu- 
ralist, has lately published an arrangement, in which he uses 
the fructification, and also various characters drawn from other 
parts of the plant, or even from any remarkable accessary cir- 
cumstance. This method, with all its intrinsic meilts, we con- 
sider as too artificial, and too complicated, and therefore not 
likely to be adopted by botanists. In the year 1817, Charles 
A. Agardh, Professor at Lund in Sweden, published a work 
entitled, Synopsis Algarum Scandinavise, adjecta dispositione 
universali Algarum.” He employs in his generic characters, 
not only the seeds, but also the whole habit of the plant. In 
this arrangement, the Alga3 are subdivided into the following 
sections. 1. Fucoide/E, which contains seven genera. S. Flo- 
RiDEJE, seven genera. 3. Ulvoide.e, nine genera. 4. CoNr 
EERVoiDE^, seventeen genera. 5. Tremellin^, five genera. 
Acknowledging as we do the excellence of Agardh as an ob- 
* For an account of Dr Walker’s arrangement, we refer our readers to Neill’s 
luminous and interestin^g account of the Fuci, in the Edinburgh Enc^dopcedia. 
T 2 
