BOTANY. 51 



o 



from a suppression of the archegonium in Pteris cretica were 

 to be found in other ferns. He found that the same condi- 

 tion also existed in Aspidium Filix, mas, var. cristafum, and 

 Aspidium falcatum. In the three species mentioned the 

 prothalli usually contained normal antheridia, but archego- 

 nia were extremely rare, and, as far as could be ascertained, 

 were always abortive. The non-sexual or budding process, 

 in all three species, consists in the formation of a protuber- 

 ance on the under surface of the prothallus, from which 

 grow a first leaf, root, and stem-bud, as in the normal em- 

 bryo formation, although their relative position and date of 

 development vary. De Bary gives the name of apogamy 

 to the substitution of some other form of reproduction in 

 cases where the power of sexual reproduction has been lost. 

 Apogamy is of three kinds: apogeny, where the function of 

 both male and female organs is destroyed ; apogyny, loss of 

 reproductive power in the female ; apandry, in the male or- 

 gan. De Bary's paper ends with some valuable remarks on 

 parthenogenesis in the vegetable kingdom. The germina- 

 tion of the Schizeacece has been investigated by Dr. Her- 

 mann Bauke, who studied three species of Aneimia, and one 

 Mbhria. The development of this suborder is, with the ex- 

 ception that the archegonial thickening is on one side rather 

 than at the sinus of the prothallus, very much the same as 

 in the suborder Polypodiacece. The same writer has also 

 published a preliminary notice of the sexual reproduction in 

 Platycerium, I/ygodium, and Gymnogramme. A paper by 

 H. F. Jonkmann on the Development of the Prothallus of the 

 3Iarattiacece is to be found in the JBotanische Zeitimg, but is 

 left in an unfinished condition by the author. The Develop- 

 ment of the Embryo, or rather the Central Cell, of the Ar- 

 chegonium of the PJquisetacece, is the subject of a paper in 

 Pringsheim's Jahrbuch, by Dr. Sadebeck, who finds that the 

 embryo, as in ferns, divides into four parts a stem-bud, first 

 leaf, primary root, and the so-called foot. There have been 

 but very few articles relating exclusively to descriptions of 

 ferns, but we may mention a list of Bulansa's Ferns of 

 Paraguay ; Notes on some Japanese Ferns, by J. G. Baker ; 

 and a list of Venezuela Ferns, by Dr. Ernst. 



The most important paper relating to the development of 

 mosses is that of Kienitz-Gerloff in the Botanische Zeitung. 



Y2 



