378 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



Darwin. MM. Reess and Will, on the other hand, in the 

 Botanisclie Zeitung, abundantly confirm Mr. Darwin's re- 

 sults in the case of Dionoea and Drosercf, as is also the case 

 with two independent series of observations carried on in 

 England by Dr. Lawson Tait and Mr. J. W. Clark. The 

 former gentleman claims to have established the absorptive 

 power of the leaves of Drosera by planting in perfectly pure 

 silver sand plants from which the roots had been entirely 

 removed, and feeding them with extract of beef and phos- 

 phate of ammonia ; the latter by feeding the leaves with 

 bodies of flies soaked in a solution of citrate of lithium, and 

 then finding the lithium in other parts of the plant by means 

 of the spectroscope. 



FERTILIZATION OF A FERN. 



Mr. H. H. Babcock has lately communicated an interest- 

 ing fact in regard to a well-known fern, the Aspidium acro- 

 stichoides. In this plant, at the time of maturing of the 

 spores, the elastic band of each theca slowly straightens out, 

 carrying the spores in a mass at its tip. After straighten- 

 ing and bending back as far as possible, it gives a sudden 

 forward spring, projecting the spores in a shower. It then 

 gradually resumes its original position, and then the theca 

 presents the appearance of having simply been ruptured to 

 allow the spores to fall out. 



NEAV WORK OX MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



A new work has been commenced in London, under the 

 title of " Medicinal Plants," to contain colored plates in- 

 cluded in the pharmacopoeia of Great Britain, India, and the 

 United States, together with descriptions of plants, their 

 nomenclature, geographical distribution, etc., and an account 

 of their properties and uses. 



