362 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



atmosphere. The present experiments deal with species of <-Robinia, 

 Ribes, JEsculus, and Acer, and they prove conclusively that the hairs of 

 plants cultivated in the open air develop in exactly the same manner as 

 those grown in an atmosphere from which nitrogen has been removed. 

 Hairs taken from organs of the same aere and in the same stage of 

 development, give similar microchemical reactions, and it is shown that 

 the nitrogen of albuminoid substances demonstrated by these reactions, 

 is not derived from the atmosphere. The author shows that since all 

 living cells contain protoplasm, they must of necessity respond to albumin 

 tests, and therefore these tests are no criterion for proving the assimila- 

 tion of nitrogen. Consequently the opinion that plant-hairs have the 

 power of assimilating free nitrogen from the atmosphere, which is based 

 upon the results of these tests, must be regarded as erroneous and with- 

 out foundation. 



CRYPTOGAMS. 



Pteridophyta. 

 (By A. Gepp, MA., P.L.S.) 



Bothrodendron kiltorkense.* — T. Johnson publishes a further 

 account of the fossil plant Bothrodendron kiltorkense, in which he 

 describes and figures its stigmaria and cone from recent specimens 

 obtained at Kiltorcan. The cone was borne on a well-developed stalk 

 with ordinary leaf-scars continued up to the very base of the cone. 

 The sporophylls are many and close-set, and consist of a broad fertile 

 proximal portion and an upturned awl-shaped distal portion. The cone 

 is heterosporous, while the lower sporophylls are female, each with a 

 large sessile megasporangium containing numerous megaspores. The 

 upper sporophylls are male-bearing microsporangia. The cone resembles 

 that of Lepidostrobus, not Selaginella. It is a highly specialized 

 structure. 



Phyllitis.t — F. Morton publishes two studies on the genus Phyllitis. 

 The first is entitled "The Finding of Phyllitis hemionitis (Lag.) 

 0. Kuntze, in the Quarnero region," and deals with questions of distri- 

 bution. The second treats of the " Systematic Position, Distribution, 

 and Ecology of Phyllitis hybrida (Milde) Christensen." The relation- 

 ship between that species and Ceteraeh, as well as its connexion with 

 P. scolopendrium and P. hemionitis, is shown by a comparison of the 

 respective structures, the points being : (1) the endings of the vascular 

 bundles in the frond-lobes ; (2) the position of the sori ; (3) the 

 indusium; (4) the layers of tissue from which the indusium arises. 

 P. hybrida is shown to be an independent species, not of hybrid origin, 

 occupying a systematic position between Ceteraeh and P. scolopendrium, 

 similar to that of P. hemionitis, which in its anatomy and morphology 

 it most closely resembles. The distribution of P. hybrida is discussed, 

 and its synonymy is given. 



* Sci. Proc. Roy. Dublin Soc, xiv. (1911) pp. 211-14 (5 pis.), 

 t Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr., 1914, pp. 19-36 (5 pis. and 2 maps). 





