ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 309 



particles of protoplasm in such a way as to lower the surface-tension on 

 the anterior faces and raise it on the posterior ones. 



There is an appendix on the electrical conductivity of egg-albumin. 



Distribution of Spherulin among Plant Families.* — L. Petit 

 finds that the refringent globules which he discovered in the chlorophyll 

 parenchyma of the leaves of many members of the gamopetalous and 

 epigynous polypetalous families of dicotyledons are very rare in what he 

 terms the lower families, namely, apetalous dicotyledons and monocoty- 

 ledons. He indicates a reaction by means of which spherulin may be 

 recognised. If sections be treated successively with eau de Javelle, iodine 

 tincture, and finally glycerin, the globules become coloured chestnut- 

 brown. 



Structure and Development. 



Vegetative. 



Stelar System in Flowering Plants.f — J. C. Schonte has studied 

 the morphology of the stelar system in the seed-plants. In the first 

 part of his work the author describes his investigations on the structure 

 of the stem- and root-apex in a number of angiosperms and concludes 

 that Hanstein's meristematic layers — dermatogen, periblem, and plerome 

 —do not correspond to the division of the adult tissues into epidermis, 

 cortex, and central cylinder as proposed by Van Tieghem and others. 

 Moreover, he finds that there is too much inconstancy in the cell-wall 

 reticulum of the growing apex, especially of the stem, for it to be 

 regarded as of much value as a clue to the morphology of the tissues. 



In the second part of his work the author gives the results of his 

 examination of the stems of a large number of angiosperms for the 

 presence of an endodermis or phloeoteruia. He finds, in opposition to 

 Fischer, that an endodermis is a very constant feature of the stem in 

 monocotyledons, occurring in eighteen out of nineteen families investi- 

 gated. In the dicotyledons it was present only in 99 out of 1G9 families. 

 The author concludes that the endodermis is a layer of great morphologi- 

 cal importance. On consideration of the recent work on the ontogeny 

 of the central cylinder he agrees with Boodle, that the central cylinder of 

 all vascular plants is morphologically the same, that is, monostelic. 



Intermediate Wood. J- — P. Vuillemin suggests this term for the wood 

 formations which either by their origin, or their position, or the order of 

 succession depart from the classic idea of primary and secondary. The 

 term comprehends Van Tieghem's metaxylem, or vessels developed in 

 the conjunctive tissue of the root between the wood-rays and the phloem 

 area, belonging to the primary wood but agreeing with the secondary 

 wood in position and orientation. It ^includes also the case now de- 

 scribed by the author in the root of Gentiana ciliata where the cells of 

 the pericycle near the protoxylem form wood-elements at the same time 

 that th£ secondary wood-formation begins in the conjunctive tissue on 

 the inner side of the phloem. 



* Comptes Rendus, cxxxv. (1902) pp. 991-2. See this Journal for 1902, p. 194. 

 t J. C. Sclioute, 'Die Stelar-Theorie,' Proefschrift, Groningen, December 19U2. 

 See E. C. Jeffrey in But. Gaz., xxxv. (1903) pp 144-5. 

 I Comptes Rendus, cxxxv. (1902) pp. 1367-9. 



