182 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Spore-development in Equisetum.*— R. Beer publishes an account 

 of the premeiotic and meiotic nuclear divisions of the spores in Equisetum 

 arvense, illustrated with many highly magnified figures of the phases 

 observed. He describes the formation of the spireme, the chromosomes, 

 and the separation of their longitudinal segments towards the poles of 

 the spindle in the premeiotic divisions ; also the synapsis, segmentation 

 of the spireme into heterotype chromosomes, and the stages of the first 

 and second meiotic divisions.- 



Synopsis Hymenophyllacearum.t — R. B. Van den Bosch published 

 in 1858 a Synopsis Hymenophyllacearum.l A new edition is now issued, 

 prepared by W. A. Goddijn ; and in it are included numerous additions 

 and unpublished drawings. The original short diagnoses are retained and 

 amplified by all the notes and citations of literature, exsiccatse, etc., 

 synonyms, collected by Van den Bosch before his death. 



North American Ferns. — T. C. Frye and M. M. Jackson,§ in con- 

 tinuing their account of the ferns of Washington, give diagnoses and 

 figures of the Ophioglossaceae and some of the Polypodiaceae. The 

 general keys to the Polypodiaceae are two : one based on the leaves, the 

 other on the sori. 



W. R. Maxon|| discusses a collection of rare ferns made by L. N. 

 Goodding in Cochise County, Arizona. Five of them, described as new 

 by Goodding, are shown to be species already known. 



L. S. Hopkins 1T describes and figures Polystkhum Andersoni, a new 

 fern collected on Vancouver Island by J. M. Macoun, and points out the 

 characters by which it is distinguished from allied species. 



Bryophyta. 



(By A. Gepp.) 



Filamentous Formations in Moss-cells.** — K. Boresch describes 

 his experiments on certain filamentous and net-like formations in the 

 leaf-cells of certain mosses. Funaria hygrometrka and Fontinalis anti- 

 pyretka were the species chosen. The formations occur markedly in 

 the auricles of the older leaves of the latter species. They probably 

 are composed largely of fatty material, and are either homogeneous or 

 studded with small strongly refractive drops. They are continually 

 changing their form, position, and visibility. All the filamentous 

 growths drop to pieces under the action of certain reagents, going 

 through a distinct series of stages. If the reagent is removed by water 

 the growths are re-formed, passing through the same stages in reverse 

 order. The same effect can be produced by lighting a hitherto dark 



* Ann. of Bot., xxvii. (1913) pp. 643-59 (3 pis.). 



f Mededeelingen van 's Rijks Herbarium. Leiden, No. 17 (1913) pp. 1-36. 



\ Nederl. Kruidk. Archief, iv. (1859) pp. 341-419. 



§ American Fern. Journ., iii. (1913) pp. 97-108 (figs.). 



|| American Fern. Journ., iii. (1913) pp. 109-16. 



4 American Fern. Journ., iii. (1913) pp. 116-18 (1 pi.). 



** Zeitschr. Bot., vi. (1914) pp. 97-156 (1 pi.). 



