BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. T5 
T. — Remarks on some Alge found in the Water Supplies of 
the City of Boston. By W. G. FAR Low, Assistant Pro- 
fessor of Botany in Harvard University. 
Ir will be remembered that, in the months of October and Novem- 
ber, 1875, a peculiar taste was noticed in the drinking water of the 
City of Boston, which was generally described as resembling that of 
cucumbers. It is recorded that a similar taste was noticed in the 
autumn and winter of 1854; and, at that time, an investigation was 
made concerning its origin. The investigation, conducted by well- 
known chemists, did not result in assigning any definite cause for the 
taste; and in hinting that it might have arisen from Crustacea in which 
had been noticed a quantity of oil globules, the chemists were expressing 
an opinion which could only have weight when coming from a zodlogist. 
When the taste reappeared in 1875, an examination of the water 
was made by Professor W. R. Nichols, Mr. Edward Burgess, and myself, 
to ascertain whether any substance known to chemistry, zodlogy, or 
botany, could have produced the peculiar cucumber taste. The results 
of our examinations are’ given in the “ Report of the Cochituate Water 
Board,” Boston, 1876; and it needs only be said, in this connection, that 
no assignable cause could be discovered, but that, as far as the botani- 
cal examination showed, the water was unusually pure; that from the 
Bradley Basin, where-the cucumber taste was strong, being decidedly 
more free from vegetation, whether living or dead, than that from the 
Brookline Basin where the taste was not perceptible. Inasmuch as 
the subject of fresh-water algz is a terra incognita to water boards, upon 
whom not unfrequently devolves the duty of explaining to the public 
the cause of various unpleasant smells and tastes, it seems not inap- 
propriate to say a few words about what is known of the relation of 
those plants to smells and tastes, even if it should amount to a confes- 
sion of a very considerable ignorance. 
It has long been believed, by that part of the public which is inter- 
ested in botany, that the alge known as nostocs have a disagreeable 
odor, and, in many cases where unpleasant odors have arisen in 
bodies of water which serve as water supplies, it has been considered 
asufficient explanation to say that the odor is produced by some 
nostoc-like plant, without, however, going so far as actually to find 
