5U ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



The species especially studied were Phascum cuspidatum, 

 Ceratodon purpureum, and Hhma/ria Jtyr/rometrica; and the 

 article, which abounds in minute details, is made compre- 

 hensible by drawings. We would also mention the Mono- 

 graphia Metzgerice and Bryince acrocarpce, by S. O. Lind- 

 berg ; a Description of Twelve Mosses from India, by C. 

 Miiller, in the Flora ; and JSIusci Frondosi from Central 

 Brazil, collected by Dr. Warming, and described by Ernst 

 Hampe. A dried collection called 3Iusci Aiistro-Africani 

 has been offered for sale by Dr. A. Rehmann. 



The Characece have been treated of in several articles, the 

 principal aim of the writers being to explain the position 

 of the order in respect to mosses, and to Sachs's order of 

 Carposporece. The July number of the Journal of Botany, 

 British and Foreign, contains an article by A. W. Bennett 

 on the Structure and Affinities of Characece ; and the Sep- 

 tember number, a paper by Professor T. Caruel on the 

 Place of Characece in the Natural System. The December 

 number contains an elaborate essay on the Pro-Embryo of 

 Cham, by Sydney II. Vines. The general opinion seems to 

 be that the Characece form a distinct group by themselves. 

 Celakovsky, in Flora, discusses the Morphological Significa- 

 tion of the Spores of the Characece. He thinks that the fe- 

 male organ of Chara should be considered an oogonium, and 

 not a " Sporenknospchen," as the term is applied by Alex- 

 ander Braun. A fifth fascicle of Braun, liabenhorst, and Sti- 

 zenberger's Characece has just made its appearance. 



Tliallogens. 



A very important paper on the development of lichens, by 

 Dr. E. Stahl, is entitled " Ueber die Bedeutung der Hymeni- 

 algonidieri." It is the second part of a work mentioned in 

 the Record of 1877. The present paper treats of the signifi- 

 cance of the hymenial gonidin. The species whose develop- 

 ment has been especially studied by Stahl are Endocarpon 

 pusillum, Thelidium minxitulum, and Polyblastia rugulosa. 

 Stahl considers that the hymenial gonidia arc derived from 

 the thalline gonidia, and that their peculiar appearance is 

 owing only to their place of growth. When the spores are 

 discharged, a number of hymenial gonidia are also dis- 

 charged with them. Stahl cultivated the spores of the 



