BOTANY. 329 



Azolla, studied by him in New Zealand. Although long 

 studied, the mode of germination of Azolla (which, according 

 to Dr. Berggren, resembles that of Bilularia) had escaped de- 

 tection. Stahl, in the Botanische Zeitung, describes the proc- 

 ess by which the stalks of the spore -cases in mosses, when 

 cut across, may produce protonemata. The same subject is 

 more elaborately treated by Pringsheim in his Jahvbuch; 

 and he gives, in concluding, his views of the nature of the 

 prothallus in the higher cryptogams. Leitgeb has continued 

 his researches on the morphology of Hepaticce, to which, for 

 some years, he has paid special attention. 



Fungi. 



On no branch of botany is the annual literature more vo- 

 luminous than on this. The magazine articles in which new 

 species have been described are for too numerous for special 

 mention. In Hedwigia articles have appeared by Magnus, 

 Schroeter, Von Thiimen,Niessl, and others; and in Gremllea 

 by far the larger number of articles by English botanists re- 

 late to fungi. In the Annates des Sciences is a series of my- 

 cological essays by Sorokin, who has also published some- 

 thing in Hedwigia. In England, a translation of Rostafin- 

 sky's " Myxomycetes," at least so far as the British species are 

 concerned, has been made by M. C. Cooke. The first volume 

 ofFries's "Icones Hymenomycetum" has been successfully 

 finished. A useful synopsis of the TJstilaginem, by Professor 

 Fischer von Waldheim, has been published in the Annates 

 des Sciences; and the same author has also distributed a 

 paper on the species of JSntyloma, and a list of the plants on 

 which the species of TJstilaginem are parasitic. Dr. Wilhelm, 

 of Strasbursr, has also distributed his doctorate thesis on the 

 species of Aspergillus. Special mention should be made of 

 some developmental works on fungi. Brefeld's Basidiomy- 

 cetes forms the third part of his series published under the 

 name of "Ueber Schimmelpilze." Brefeld is the strongest 

 advocate of the view that, so far as at present known, the 

 fruit of the Basidiomycetes is not produced from a carpo- 

 spore. In a short article, Brefeld also discusses the theory 

 that fungi do not require light to attain perfection, and 

 brin o-s forward several facts to show that such is not the 

 case at least, not universally ; for some species will not bear 



