FRESH-WATER ALGAE. 165
It would be dry and unprofitable work to go further into the classification
of the Algae, and to those who have not studied the subject a little, it would
be difficult to make it intelligible.
The Freshwater Algae are hardly likely ever to become a popular study
in the same sense in which ferns and seaweeds are. With very few exceptions
they present when dried but small attractions in the way of elegance and
beauty. You cannot make a pretty album for the drawing-room table out of
them. But if you once start studying them in a living state under the
microscope you will enter upon an absolutely inexhaustible field of beauty,
the very existence of which you had never suspected.
I should like to urge upon all who take up the study of these humble
plants, the desirability and value of making carefully-executed pen and ink
sketches of every species they meet with, or better still, water-colour drawings,
imitating as closely as possible the exact tint of the object under examination.
These drawings should be accompanied by a written description, as minute
and full as possible, together with particulars of habitat and the date. Sketches
and descriptions of this kind take up very little time, and they answer a two-
fold purpose. Firstly, they impress the object much more clearly upon the
memory and direct attention to many minute points which would readily
escape the eye during a mere cursory examination ; and secondly, they will
prove at a future period absolutely invaluable for the purpose of study and
comparison. The difficulty—even in most cases the impossibility of preserving
the Freshwater Algae so as to retain their graceful outlines and delicate tints,
renders this course the only alternative ; but the marvellous beauty of their
forms and the variety of their colours will amply reward any time and labour
spent in their delineation.
One word in conclusion as to books treating on the subject. The first
English work was Hassall's British Freshwater Alga, in two volumes, published
half a century ago. It is now very scarce, and second-hand copies fetch a
high price, and though a book of much value when first it appeared, it has
long been superseded.
The best complete work on the subject as far as the whole of Europe is
concerned is Rabenhorst's Flora Europaea Algarum, published 30 years ago.
It is written in Latin, and gives a rough figure of every genus, Decidedly
the best work on the British species is Cooke's British Freshwater Algae in two
volumes, giving a coloured figure of every form. This work has, however,
been out of print for some time, and second-hand copies are expensive when
they are to be had at all.
But for quite a beginner in the study there is no better book than Cooke's
little Introduction to the Freshwater Algae recently published. It is one of the
International Scientific Series, so that it has the merit of being within the
reach of everyone. Most, if not all, the British species are described and
every genus figured: When the young student has mastered the details of
this little book, he will be better able to make use of the many splendid
monographs of the continental Algologists, which are quite indispensable in
the advanced study of the Freshwater Algae.1
1 The recorded species of the Fresh-water Alga? of Essex (excluding the Diatomaceae)
have been listed by Dr. Cooke in the Essex Nat., vol. vii., p.p. 170-70. Species from the
Kelvedon district were recorded by the late E. G. Varenne in E.N., vol. v.. pp. 25-30; and
several Forest localities are given in Dr. Cooke's interesting chapter on "Pond Life in
the Forest," in the new edition (the 4th, 1897) of Mr. Buxton's Epping Forest.—Ed.