REVIEWS. 
17 
Two Bostrychia (B. montagnei and B. jllicula , MS.), and a Catenella, 
were found on the stems of mangroves, near high-water mark. 
Such is Dr. Harvey’s outline of the distribution of the leading types 
found in each of the four regions into which he proposes to divide the lo¬ 
calities, the result of whose examination is contained in the present Nereis. 
We have presented it to our readers, as we feel assured that it will be read 
with interest by all who wish to form some idea of the characteristic 
vegetation of the North American shores. The parts which we have 
extracted are prefaced by a few brief observations on the general causes 
that appear to affect the geographical distribution of the Algae. These will 
be read with confidence and interest by all, as affording, in an able summary, 
the results of observations made by some of the best algologists, grouped 
together by one who is himself more capable of appreciating the importance 
of such generalizations than, perhaps, any of his fellow-labourers in this 
line of research. We would gladly transfer them to our pages ; but we 
feel that, however unwilling, want of space compels us to draw our 
present notice to an end. When comparing the genera recorded in these 
volumes with the same genera as found described by our author in 
his Phycologia Britannica, we are often surprised with meeting old 
friends under new names, and sometimes names that we were familiarized 
with, from the pages of Phycologia, unceremoniously transferred to new 
faces. We fear that in this respect some of the Algae could make out a 
very clear case against the learned Professor and some of his brethren—as 
for example, the Ralfsia deusta (Berk and Phyc. Brit.), which, after hav¬ 
ing passed through six different genera, hoped to have found its true name 
in the pages of the Phycologia Britannica; and yet, on the ap¬ 
pearance of the Nerd's Boreali-Americana, finds that his fair name 
has been pilfered by an American stranger, patronized by J. Aghard, and, 
after all his previous sufferings, the poor Alga is again left in quest of a 
name. We are sure the learned professor “ did it all for the best,” and, 
therefore, will not say a word more than to warn our readers, that the 
American plant is not the British plant described under the same name. 
In the introduction prefixed to the sub-class Rhodospermeae, Dr, Harvey, 
after briefly stating the general characteristics of the Algae included in it, 
proceeds to an examination of the double system of fructification, which 
forms their most remarkable and distinctive character; 11 two descriptions 
of spore-producing organs being found on almost all these plants, and 
always being developed on different individuals of each species. Thus, then, 
Algae are strictly dioecious , though in a different manner from other dioecious 
plants; for here it is not stamens and pistils (or their analogues) which are 
VOL. i. C 
