Notes. 
97 
familiar in Harvey’s figure (Phycologia Britannica, pi. 241). It would 
thus seem that the young plants of March were the progeny of the 
plants of the previous autumn, maturing in the next autumn, to remain 
however, as exfoliated bulbs as late as March of this year. The plant 
is therefore an annual in the sense that the plants of one year produce 
the crop of the next ; in the same sense, that is to say, as winter-sown 
wheat is an annual. 
I have since ascertained that Setchell, in a paper on the Life-History 
of Saccorhiza dermatodea (De la Pyl.) J. G. Ag. in the Proceedings of 
the American Academy, Vol. VI, expresses himself as convinced of the 
annual character of that species, and states that De la Pylaie and 
Areschoug had come to the same conclusion. It would thus seem 
that two of the species removed from the genus Lammaria into De la 
Pylaie’s genus Saccorhiza turn out to be annuals. 
The absence in Saccorhiza bulhosa of the intercalary growth, which 
in British Laminarias forms a new lamina each year, the non-occurrence 
of a zone of secondary thickening in the stipes, as well as a softer 
consistency of the whole substance of the plant, are all to be correlated 
with the fact of its lasting for a single season. The persistence of the 
bulb for some time after the disappearance of the stalk and blade, adds 
a new interest to Gardiner’s 1 discovery of sporanges upon the ‘ roots.’ 
In the same paper by Barber as is referred to above, when speaking 
of the annual shedding of the lamina in the Laminarias, he remarks 
that ‘ it is stated by Reinke to occur also in Alaria esculenta .’ It may 
fairly be concluded, I think, from the bright olive colour and entire 
condition of the proximal portion of the blade, when contrasted with 
the darker colour and frayed condition of the distal portion, that an 
intercalary growth takes place in Alaria in the same region as in the 
Laminarias. This appearance however persists throughout the year, 
and I have not seen any evidence of a similar insertion of an entirely 
new lamina in the spring as occurs in L. digitata and saccharina. 
The intercalary growth in Alaria seems to be continuous; in La- 
minaria , periodic. It is interesting to notice that young specimens of 
Alaria not more than two or three inches long exhibit the same fresh 
appearance of the near end, and frayed appearance of the free end as 
occur in specimens several feet long. 
REGINALD W. PHILLIPS. 
University College, Bangor. 
1 Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc., V, 1885. 
H 
