A Monograph of the British Desmidiaceae

Abstract

IN notices of the earlier volumes we have had occasion to speak very highly of this work, which deservedly takes a front rank among monographs devoted to a single family of plants. The merits so conspicuous in these volumes are equally so in this, which is devoted entirely to a part of the great genus Cosmarium. Beginning with species 51, the text closes with species 224; but seven additional species are figured, although exigencies of space require their descriptions to be held over to vol. iv. A very large number of the species have named forms or varieties under them. A considerable proportion of these, and a few of the species, are new to science. The references to the literature under each already known species and variety are very ample. In discussing the distribution of each, the authors are careful to acknowledge the work of others, the names of Roy and Bissett occurring very frequently, and Archer, Cooke, Ralf, and Wills on many pages; but the larger part of the whole is the result of the very extensive researches among fresh-water algæ carried out by the authors themselves in many parts of the British Islands. The distribution beyond our islands is also given, and for some species is extraordinarily wide, e.g. C. venustum extends over the northern hemisphere, and has also been found in Java, Australia, and Paraguay, and several others are also dispersed in the fresh waters of almost every part of the world where desmids have been sought for. Under most of the species important notes direct attention to the more distinctive characters, the relations to allied forms, whether British or from other countries, peculiarities of habitat, and other characteristics that cannot be introduced into a systematic description, but which are often exceedingly helpful.

A Monograph of the British Desmidiaceae.

By W. West Dr. G. S. West. Vol. iii. Pp. xv+274; 31 plates (lxv.–xcv., of which 14 coloured). Sixty-fifth year of issue. (London: Printed for the Ray Society, 1908.) Price 25s. net.