298 
celebrated words, “‘ What’s in a name?” still I think scientific names 
ought not to be apt to create erroneous impressions, especially in 
reference to such important facts as the structure of the body of a 
plant. Jos. SCHRENK. 
College Point, L. I., March 11. 
§ 302. Non-cellular Plants, [The following lines are trans- 
lated from a proof-slip lately received in a letter from Prof. Jul. 
Sachs. Jos. SCHRENK. | 
Prof. Sachs demonstrated a number of plants of the order 
Siphonaceae before the Physico-medical Society of Wiirzburg, and 
remarked that these Thallophytes, together with the Mucorinaceae, 
- are as yet considered as single celled plants, that is to say, as plants 
consisting of but one cell. This is correct, Prof. Sachs says, if by 
the term “‘cell’’ we understand a body which has originated by 
growth and is surrounded by a cell-membrane containing proto- 
plasma. But as we can observe that the growth of the Siphonaceae 
and Mucorinaceae is not accompanied by corresponding cell-divis- 
ions, as is the case with nearly all other plants, but takes place 
without any such divisions, it seems more natural to consider them 
as non-cellular plants—as plants whose interior is not divided by par- 
titions, and whose protoplasma is not parted nor gathered around 
numerous centres. In this respect the Coeloblasts without any 
nuclei (Siphonaceae, Mucorinaceae and others) differ materially 
from other so-called single-celled plants, such as the Desmidiaceae, 
Bacillariaceae, etc., the growth of which is accompanied by rhythmi- 
cally repeated divisions ; only with them the different compartments 
of the cell separate from one another at once, and may live as 
“ single-celled ” plants, 
§ 303. Agaricus chlorinosmus, Peck.—It seems to me far more 
probable that the fungus, noticed in the BULLETIN for December, 
was exhaling chlorine, when found, than a hitherto unknown sub- 
stance with its exact odor. Plants are said to exhale ozone, which 
has the same disinfectant properties as chlorine, but a different odor. 
Is not the odor one of the most delicate and reliable tests for free 
chlorine ? and would not the same line of argument which rejects it 
also reject allother tests? Is the odor of Eschscholtzia juice exactly 
like that of muriatic acid ? gee Ai 
§ 304. Publications.—1. Ferns of North America, Parts xii and 
xiii, S. E. Cassino, Salem, Mass. It is some time since we called 
attention to this beautiful and low priced publication, which no 
student of our ferns would willingly be without. The present instal- 
ment contains plates and descriptions of eleven species with their 
varieties, viz: Aspidium acrostichoides ; Pteris aquilina; Asplenium 
trichomanes, A. viride, A. parvulum; Adiantum Capillus—Veneris, 
A. emarginatum ; Vittaria lineata; Notholaena sinuata, N. ferruginea, 
N. Newberryi. It seems that Adiantum Capillus-Veneris and 
Asplenum parvulum have recently been found in Greene County, 
Missouri, by Prof. E. M. Shepard. This is their highest northern 
range, about 37°, except the Kentucky station for the Asplenuim 
mentioned below, As regards Pteris aquilina, var caudafa, a variety 
which has been reported as growing near Manchester, N. J., we quote 
