Marine Algae (British and Irish Isles)
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of approximately 10,000 marine algae specimens from the British and Irish Isles. These date broadly from 1787 to 1969. The collection is divided into the classic groups of red, green and brown algae. The collection contains pressed and dried herbarium sheets, often several small specimens mounted onto a single sheet, and coralline algae stored in small packets. The civic collection (GLAM) is formed largely by the David Robertson collection, which amounts to over 2,000 specimens including about 70 coralline algae representing 18 species of Lithophyllum, Lithothamnion and Melbesia. There is little supporting data, but the algae appear to date from the late 19th century and are from localities notably Cumbra and, Arran, with a number from Ireland. In addition, there are around 150 specimens from the Rev. John Fleming collection, which date from 1797 and originate from locations such as the Firth of Forth, Islay, Orkney, Belfast, Torbay and Yarmouth. There are also 120 specimens from Professor T King. A prize collection is the ‘British Algae’ cyanotype photograms made by Anna Atkins, in 1843, which is considered to be one of the most complete sets still in existence. The collection also holds several bound copies of the ‘Treasures of the Deep’ distributed by the Rev. D Landsborough in the mid 19th century. The University of Glasgow (GL) collection is the largest, with nearly 7000 specimens. It is based on the collection of Professor G Walker Arnott, from the first half of the 19th century, but with many associates including J Drummond, R K Greville, Mrs Griffiths, Prof W H Harvey, Prof R Hennedy, D Turner, Rev D Landsborough and T Wise, and more recently supplemented by university staff, notably E Conway and T Norton.
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