ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, BTC. 2 i - r , 



vegetative branches and remain at the surface of the ground ; in 

 S. chrysorrhizos they are developed underground at the ends of filamen- 

 tous, modified vegetative branches. In the former case, the leaves of 

 these tubers or buds are densely chlorophyllose : in the latter they are 

 scale-like, without chlorophyll, and packed with reserve-material. 

 Further, in 8. chrysocaulos the ventral rhizophores alone are functional, 

 while the dorsal ones remain functionless and but little developed ; in 

 S. chrysorrhizos both kinds of rhizophores are functional but remain very 

 short, the tubers being already buried in the soil. 



Apogamy in Nephrodium hirtipes.* — W. X. Steil gives an account 

 of the prothallia obtained by artificial cultivation from the spores of 

 Nephrodium hirtipes. No archegonia were observed, but embryos of 

 apogamous origin were found in the earliest stages. Light areas were 

 seen just behind the apical notch. In these areas appeared first tracheids, 

 then a compact mass of cells, which developed into the apogamous 

 embryo. A foot was never formed. The primary leaf was formed, then 

 the primary root, and later the stem. Such was the usual course of 

 development. In this species also cell and nuclear fusions were dis- 

 covered in the sporangia, similar to those found in Aspidium falcatum 

 by Ruth Allen. The 16-spore mother-cells fused in pairs, and then 

 divided up into 32 spores — often reduced by irregularities of develop- 

 ment. 



Ferns of Madeira.! — C. A. de Menezes includes in his Flora do 

 Archipelago da Madeira a list of the fifty ferns hitherto recorded as 

 occurring in the islands of Madeira and Porto Santo, with some descrip- 

 tive notes as to structure, native names, literature, localities, etc. An 

 interesting list of botanists, who -have made collections in Madeira, is 

 supplied. 



Hawaiian Ferns. i — E. B. Copeland publishes a paper on Hawaiian 

 ferns collected by Abbe Faurie in 1909-10. The ferns of Hawaii have 

 been thoroughly studied by W. J. Hillebrand,§ and a further account 

 of them has been given by W. J. Robinson. || The isolated position 

 of the archipelago has led to the production of a peculiar endemic flora. 

 The species of Diella and Soilleria have evidently all been developed 

 locally in each genus from a common ancestor, which can be indicated 

 almost with certainty. A similar development has occurred in Asple- 

 nia m, from several immigrant ancestral forms, and the descendants 

 overlap perplexingly. Three cosmopolitan species are now added to the 

 flora ; and seven species new to science are described. 



* Bot. Gaz., lix. (1915) pp. 254-5. 



t Fuuchal : Typ. Bazar do Povo, 1914, pp. 202-12. 



t Philippine Jouru. Sci., ix. Sect. C (1914) pp. 435-41. 



§ Flora of Hawaii, 1S88. 



|| Bull. Torrev Bot. Club, xl. (1913). 



