Marine algae published by Savigny in the zoological portion of “Description de l’Égypte”

Illustrations of 14 identifiable marine algae were incorporated in the zoological portion of the second volume of the natural history atlas of Description de l’Égypte by Savigny, a member of the scientific staff of the French expedition to Egypt (1798-1801). These illustrations were interpreted by Audouin in the text of this publication, but phycologists have remained unaware of their existence. Savigny collected in both the eastern Mediterranean and the northern Red Sea, but the collecting site for individual species is not always determinable. In the present paper, Savigny’s illustrations are reinterpreted and the possible or probable collecting site of each illustrated alga is discussed. The species described by Audouin from Savigny’s illustrations include Spongodium parvulum, which clearly represents a species of Codium reported from the Red Sea by Nasr as C. repens Crouan fratr. and subsequently described as a new species, C. nasrii, by Farghaly.