on the subject; and did I not wish to reserve what I have to say upon the Ulve till it is in my power to publish a history of them; materials for which I have been sometime engaged in collecting.'

Without taking a very decided part in the much agitated question concerning the destination of the root of Fuci, Mr. T. seems inclined to believe, that it may be subservient at once to the nourishment and mechanical fixture of the stem:

One of the most remarkable circumstances attending the physiology of the Fuci is the extreme rapidity of their growth and decay; a singular instance of which I had an opportunity of observing when, in July 1798, I visited the rocks at Cromer, and found them almost exclusively covered with Ulva filiformis, (Hudson,) of which, in the following September, not a trace remained: but this, if we consider the gelatinous substance of the plant, is not perhaps wonderful. Ulva plumosa and fistulosa, together with F. filum, dasyphyllus, and confervoides, had then occupied its place; some whereof being at that time new to me, I returned about two months afterwards to procure a fresh supply, when, of them all, nothing but a few broken pieces of the last remained to prove their ever having existed; and they had been succeeded by F. vesiculosus and Ulva umbilicalis. Mr. Dillwyn, during his residence at Dover, observed several instances of the same nature; and the fresh-water Confervæ partake of this fugitive quality; for often, where I have known ditches filled with particular species, I have returned after a short interval, and found not even a vestige of them left.'

Another remarkable circumstance attending the Fuci, for which it is not easy to account on philosophical principles, is the great diversity of species, produced by different places, even though but little removed from each other. Among phænogamous plants we know that Malvæ, Urticæ, Lamia, the more common grasses, &c. are predominant in almost every part of our island; but the same is far from being the case in the submersed algæ; for of those which are abundant at Yarmouth, some have never been found at Scarborough, others never at Dover; and those shores in return produce a different tribe, whereof many have not at present been discovered in Norfolk. To carry this observation a little farther, I may add that the same holds good in the Isle of Wight, Weymouth, and Cornwall, and even those individuals that are common to several parts of our island appear in distant places under such various forms, that the collecting them is almost equally interesting as if they were distinct species. Some not only flourish most on, but seem peculiar to, chalk; some to sand stone; some to hard, siliceous rocks: a remarkable instance whereof is afforded by Sherringham, a small village on the Norfolk coast, which, though not more than four miles distant from Cromer, yet, from its soil being quite different, produces different Fuci. This also seems to shew that the root of these plants is not without its use as an organ of nutrition.'

The corollary which concludes this extract is fairly deduced: but we confess that the premises do not strike us as forming a

greater

greater singularity, than that one class of lichens should affect calcareous and another granite rocks; that the appearance of Erica vagans should indicate the presence of magnesian soil; or, that a change in the agricultural distribution of the same field should occasion a difference in its spontaneous productions.

To his Introduction, Mr. Turner has subjoined a Synopsis Specierum, comprising the botanical characters of the 78 species detailed in the sequel. The subdivisions are mostly those which Dr. Goodenough and Mr. Woodward have laid down in their excellent paper inserted in the third volume of the Linnéan Transactions. The title of fronde enervi, however, has been substituted for that of fronde aveniâ, because the microscope has revealed a curious system of veins in F. laceratus, and the absence of a mid-rib is a character sufficiently obvious. The circumstance of the channelled frond (fronde hinc canaliculatá) has been omitted, because it is seldom observed in the dried and pressed specimens from which too many botanists hastily form their judgment.

A convenient Index to the Latin names and synonyms precedes the detailed synopsis: for we use this last term in compliance with the author's modest title, though we regard his performance as a more accurate and comprehensive history of Fuci than any that has yet appeared. Each species is introduced by its botanical name; the characters, synonyms, references, varieties, and minute appropriate descriptions, follow in course. To these are subjoined many valuable remarks of a critical, physiological, and economical nature.

As an exemplification of Mr. T.'s plan and manner, we transcribe the article Siliquosus, which accidentally presents itself:

• FUCUS SILIQUOSUS.

• F. fronde compressâ ramosâ ; foliis distichis alternis integerrimis ; vesiculis pedunculatis oblongis cavis; siliquis lanceolatis solidis.-Herb. Linn.-Buddle, p. 15. n. 1.-Uvedale, p. 1. n. 2. and p. 5. n. 1. 2.-Buddle and Vernon, without fructification, p. 22. n. 3.Gmelin, p. 81. t. 2. B.-Esp. p. 27. t. 8.-Fl. Dan. t. 106.Ner. Brit. p. 8. t. 5.-E. B. t. 474.-Act. Paris. 1772, partie 2de pl. 4. f. 22. 1. m. n. o. p. q. in fructification ;-the root, f. 20. 21.- -Micheli's Marine Plants, t. 22.-Linn. Sp. Pl. p. 1629.Linn. Trans. iii. p. 124.-Fl. Ang. p. 574.-Fl. Scot. p. 921.Fl. Fr. i. p. 96.-Fl. Suec. p. 431.-Fl. Lapp. p. 365.-Fl. Norv. i. p. 83. With. iv. p. 88.

Fucus angustifolius, vesiculis longis siliquarum æmulis.-R. Syn. p. 48. n. 38.-Moris. Hist. Ox. p. 647. n. 7.

B. minor; fronde vix dodrantali.

Fucus siliculosus.-Ner. Brit. p. 42. t. 11.

a is common upon the shores of England, Wales, and Scotland: B was found by Mr. Stackhouse near Fowey, in Cornwall.

R&T. SEPT. 1803.

C

Perennial

Perennial-November-March.

Root an expanded disk; in perfect plants always cone-shaped, common to three or four coriaceous fronds, from one to four feet long, very smooth, first rising in the form of simple, flat, linear, mid. ribbed leaves, entire at their margins, and about two lines wide: at the height of an inch or less, these become pinnated with others similar to themselves, in an alternate, distichous series, and perforated with minute punctures. As the plant advances in age, the primary leaves thicken into compressed, solid stems and branches, beset on each side with alternate, pedunculate, oblong vesicles, of various length, on the same specimen from half an inch to three inches, transversely furrowed without, and hollow within, except that they are divided into compartments by from four to twenty septa, answering to the external furrows, each about two lines distant from the other, of a pulpy and transparent nature, but apparently not composed of the nerve of the leaves, as has been suggested; since that still remains, and runs, longitudinally, through them, in the form of a few thin, parallel, colourless, rarely anastomosing, fibres: the vesicles are generally terminated by a mucronated point, thin and solid, with no appearance either of joints or midrib; sometimes extending to an inch or more in length, and occasionally, though rarely, containing the seeds; the proper place for which is in shortly pedunculated silique, whereof two or three are found at the end of almost every branch, of an oblongolanceolate form, compressed, and full of a parenchymous matter, among which the seeds lie in round or oval clusters, about thirty in each, situated in a circle round a minute perforation, whence they escape when they become ripe, before which time, it is closed, and appears only a dark spot.. The colour is an olive green, soon changing to black substance coriaceous, and very tough, but flexible: branches are very seldom, if ever, found so perfect as not to have lost some of their vesicles; the peduncles of which remaining, give the plant a thorny appearance.

differs in the smaller size of all its parts, and in its frond being not more than nine inches long.

The list of references subjoined to the specific character of this Fucus sufficiently demonstrates that scarcely any species is more generally found upon those shores of the world which have been explored by the votaries of botany; fortunately, too, scarcely any is more readily distinguished, and scarcely any subject to less variation of appearance. Mr. Stackhouse's F. siliculosus, which alone I have considered deserving notice as a distinct variety, is remarkable for its dwarfish size, its bushy habit, and the comparative smallness of all its parts; except which, I can see no trace of difference, for the roots, leaves, and mode of fructification agree with F. siliquosus; and, though it seems to have escaped the observation of the author of the Nereis, I find, upon dissecting the vesicles of a specimen given me by himself, that they are hollow within, and divided into compartments in a similar manner to those of that species. It is these which separate the present plant so clearly from every other, and which are evidently designed to serve the purpose of air-bladders, for keeping the frond in a state of buoyancy, though, for a long time, they were considered

considered the seat of the fructification; and botanists, comparing them to the pods of beans, expected, from analogy, to find the seeds within them. Many, even of the most accurate, were deceived by this conjecture; but, of the few that were not so, the indefatigable Micheli deserves particular mention; as it is but little known that, in a very scarce collection of admirable plates of marine plants and zoophytes, published by him, there is a figure of the present species, with its fructification completely delineated. It was long after the publication of F. siliquosus in E. B., that Mr. Stackhouse and myself, by mere accident, met with this work in Sir Joseph Bank's library, where, I believe, the only copy known to be in England is preserved; except one in the possession of Dr. Smith, which, through his friendship, is now before me. There is no letter-press; not even the name of each accompanies the figures, to which I have, nevertheless, sometimes referred, as they are so excellent, that if any botanist would undertake the re publication of them, he would do a real service to science. I am, however, wandering from my subject, upon which I have only to add, that I have a specimen of this plant given me by Mr. Bryer, of Weymouth, so singular, that it is sufficient to puzzle even an experienced observer; and, if often found so, deserves particular notice: it is, apparently, the side-shoot of a larger plant, but extends above a foot in length, composed of a very narrow, compressed stem, and long, thin, flat leaves, but little divided, without any appearance of their any where swelling into vesicles, or pods; scarcely half a line broad, and of almost the same breadth throughout all its parts. It is, I presume, to a somewhat similar appearance, that Messrs. Goodenough and Woodward refer in their observation, that "they have seen large plants of this Fucus thrown up without any approaches to fructification."-F. siliculosus Linn. of which, there are specimens in his Herbarium, is nearly related to this Fucus, but perfectly distinct, and unlike any other I ever saw.'

For the gratification of such of our botanical readers as may not see the work, we shall likewise insert the author's account of an addition to the catalogue of British Fuci:

FUCUS FASCIA.

'F. fronde sub-coriaceâ simplici lineari utrinque attenuatâ undulatâ integrâ exstipitatâ.-Fl. Dan. t.768.-Roth, Fl. Germ. iii. p. 449. -Roth, Cat. Bot. fasc. ii. p. 161.

On the north coast of Ireland, Mr. Browne.

Annual?

Root a small, blackish disk, destitute of any tendency to become fibrous; fronds numerous, four or five inches long, and in their centers about four lines wide; so extremely narrow as to be almost filiform at the base, whence they gradually dilate, till they acquire a size which they preserve throughout, except that, on their approach to the summit, they again decrease, and end in sharp, acuminated apices. They have no appearance, even in the largest specimens, of any stipes of a different substance or form to the rest of the plant. The margins are every where quite entire; the frond exhibits in no part any symptoms of either veins or midrib; in habit it is much undulated,

C 2

and

and not unfrequently twisted in a spiral manner. Young shoots are of a greenish colour, and a membranaceous substance; those more advanced are coriaceous, and of a dark, dull, sub-opaque brown. The fructification, according to Dr. Roth, consists of small vesicles, immersed in the substance of the frond, scattered, but plentiful, marked on their surface with elevated mucifluous warts.

A very considerable part of the preceding description is borrowed from Dr. Roth's admirable Flora Germanica, wherein is contained the only good account hitherto published of this rare Fucus, which that author and his friend Professor Mertens gathered abundantly near Eckwarden in Germany. It was first made known to the botanical world in the Flora Danica, and I have now the pleasure of adding it to the British Catalogue, on the authority of specimens collected on the north coast of Ireland by Mr. Browne, and obligingly communicated to me by that gentleman. He indeed considered, and had marked it an Ulva, to which genus, both from its texture and habit, there can be little doubt of its really belonging; though, never having myself seen it in a state of fructification, I think it best to leave it for the present in the situation where such excellent judges as Eder and Roth have placed it. The following is the species with which it has by far the closest affinity; but its smaller size and thicker substance, as well as its undulated mode of growth and want of stipes will distinguish it satisfactorily at first sight, and there is no other in the British Catalogue from which the specific character is not sufficient immediately to point out the difference. It must indeed be allowed that in habit and shape its connection is extremely great with Ulva compressa of Hudson, at least that variety of it made, in the Catalecta Botanica, a distinct species under the name of U. lanceolata; but the colour and texture of the two plants is very dissimilar, and, were any other mark wanting, it would only require to be observed that, though in general apparently flat, the leaf of U. lanceolata is in reality always tubular, and, by tearing off the lower part, and applying it to the mouth, will admit of distention like a bladder.'

Fucus satans, so very abundant in some foreign seas, is put down as a doubtful British native, and suggests some very ingenious and interesting remarks, which their length alone prevents us from quoting.

Fucus granulatus of Dr. Goodenough and Mr. Woodward is rejected, on the supposition that it is only a variety of barbatus, and that the real granulatus is not a native of England. The sedoides of the same authors is considered as not differing from the ovalis.

It is with extreme regret,' says Mr. T., that I differ from the learned and worthy authors of Observations upon the British Fuci, with regard to this beautiful species; and I beg it to be understood, that, though I adopt the opinion which my own observations on its place of growth, and all the specimens I have hitherto had an opportunity of examining, confirm, I submit my sentiments to the decision of those

who