302 Johnson. — Sphaerococcus coronopifolius , Stackh. 
and the systematic arrangement of the Florideae is under- 
taken afresh, the results of the present investigations may 
prove useful. 
It remains for me to compare the present account of 
Sphaerococcus coronopifolius with that of previous observers. 
According to Harvey 1 the plant was first noticed by Ray 
and described by him in his Synopsis 2 . Sowerby, as already 
noted, was the first to observe, with the aid of the simple 
microscope, the ‘ midrib 3 and faint veins of the thallus- 
branches. Goodenough and Woodward in a paper read 
before the Linnean Society in 1 795, ‘ Observations on the 
British Fuci, with particular descriptions of each species, 3 
described S', coronopifolius as Fucus coronopifolius 3 . Their 
description of the fruit has been already quoted. In 1801 
Stackhouse’s work on Marine Plants 4 was published. In this 
treatise Stackhouse objects to the wide range of forms in- 
cluded in the genus Fucus , and suggests amongst other new 
genera Sphaerococcus , the generic diagnosis being ‘ external 
globular pericarps adnate or immersed ; sessile or pedun- 
culate ; containing seeds as above. 3 Stackhouse continues : 
‘ This forms a very numerous genus, as many of the larger 
shrubby species and almost all the minuter kinds are found 
to be tubercied, and it does not appear to me that the 
tubercles being sometimes internal is a sufficient reason to 
separate them from this genus, as it may arise either from 
accident or from the plant not being sufficiently advanced 
in maturity. 3 The latter theoretical alternative is seen to 
be practically true. Speaking of the fructification, Stackhouse 
says: ‘The fructification of this species is subject to vary; 
in its luxuriant state the margin is fringed with soft forked 
branching spinules, among which the orbicular seed-bearing 
tubercles are intermixed like berries. It seems however at 
times to have simple pedunculate tubercles on the margins.’ 
The description is accompanied by a colored illustration of 
1 Harvey, op. cit. 2 Ray, Synopsis. 
3 Good, et Woodw., op. cit. p. 185. 
4 Stackhouse, Nereis Brit. 1801, p. 83, PI. XIV. 
