ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 1 ( J3 



amount of lime in the ash of plants. While the ash of Cuscuta europcea 

 contains only about 2 p.c. of lime, that of the clover, its host, contains 

 more than 30 p.c. This taken in conjunction with Palladin's obser- 

 vation that etiolated leaves of Vicia Faba contain less lime than green 

 leaves, and the fact that seedlings generally require less lime before than 

 after they have chlorophyll, suggests that not only the nuclei but also 

 the chlorophyll-bodies require lime. The author also investigated the 

 colourless saprophytic orchid Gastrodla electa in this connection, and finds 

 that the ratio of lime to magnesia in the above-ground parts is 1 : 1, as 

 compared with flowering cereals 2 : 1 and lucerne 8:1. 



Composition of Seeds of Gingko biloba.* — U. Suzuki finds that 

 the dry matter of the seeds freed from the testa have the following per- 

 centage composition : — Total nitrogen 1 ■ 8, proteid nitrogen 1 • 4, crude 

 fat 2 • 6, lecithin * 17, crude fibre 1 " 2, starch G2 • 4, sucrose 5 ■ 2, reducing 

 sugar 1*4, ash 3. 



General. 



Chinese Flora.f — The continuation of Forbes and Hemsley's enume- 

 ration of Chinese plants includes the small orders, Hydrocharidese and 

 Burmanniaceas (by C. H. Wright) and the Orchidaceae, which have been 

 elaborated by R. A. Rolfe. A number of new orchids are described, in- 

 cluding a new genus, HancocTcia, the majority of which were contained 

 in Augustin Henry's recent collections. 



Strand Flora of New Jersey. % — J. W. Harshberger makes some 

 notes supplementary to his ' Ecological Study of the New Jersey Strand 

 Flora,' published in the Proceedings of the Academy for 1900. 



CRYPTOGAMS. 

 Pteridophyta. 



Primary Structure of certain Palaeozoic Stems. § — D. H. Scott 

 concludes, from an examination of certain stems from the Lower and 

 Upper Carboniferous strata, that distinct, usually mesarch strands of 

 primary xylem forming the downward continuations of the leaf-traces, 

 were present around the pith in a number of palaeozoic stems with secon- 

 dary wood of Dadoxylon structure. Thus the anatomical structure, of 

 which we may take Lyginodendron Oldhamium as the type, proves to 

 have been widely distributed among palaeozoic plants, and to have ex- 

 tended to stems which, on the basis of other characters, would have been 

 referred with some probability to the Cordaiteaa. The stems examined 

 represent three groups : — • 



(1) The Galamopitys group, characterised by the relatively large size 

 and distinct mesarch structure of those primary xylem-strands which are 

 about to pass out from the pith, while the same strands, lower in their 

 course, are reduced in size and may assume endarch structure by failure 

 of the centripetal wood. A single strand passed out from the pith to 



* Op. cit., pp. 357-8. See also Journ. Chem. Soc, I.e. 



t Journ. Linn. Soc., xxxvi. (1903) pp. 1-72. 



J Proc Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1902, pp. 642-9 (figs, in text). 



§ Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., xl. (1902) pp. 331-65 (6 pis. and tigs, in text). 



April 15th, 1903 o 



