468 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Sematophyllum acutirameum.* — H. N. Dixon discusses three 

 mosses, the history of which has been confused. 1. Stereodon acuti- 

 rameus Mitt., from Ceylon, is shown to be a composite species, the type 

 of which is identical with Hypnum monoicum Bry. Jav., Sematophyllum 

 monoicum Jaeg. Mitten confused it partly with S. gedeanum, partly 

 with S. sigmatodontium. And there are further complications : but 

 Dixon has disentangled the question, and makes clear the structural 

 points of difference. 2. Daltonia novse-zelandise Mitt, was published in 

 1859, and afterwards dropped as a synonym of D. nervosa. But Dixon 

 shows that structurally these species are distinct. 3. Brachythecium 

 trachypodium has been wrongly recorded as a British moss. Mitten's 

 specimen is referred by Dixon to B. velutinum. 



Amblystegium.f— H. S. Jewett discusses the identity of an aquatic 

 moss found in the limestone walls of a spring in Ohio in three zones — 

 (1) above the water-line (normal Amblystegium filicinum) ; (2) partly 

 submerged {A. filicinum, in process of modification towards var. spini- 

 folium) ; (3) entirely submerged (var. spinifolium). No normal A. 

 irriguum was found. The question is whether the var. spinifolium is 

 derivative of A. filicinum or of A. irriguum. He compares the structure 

 of these plants, and quotes A. J. Grout's opinion that despite the con- 

 tiguity of A. filicinum and the inflorescence, yet the submerged plants 

 are A. irriguum var. spinifolium. 



New British Hepaticse.J — W. E. Nicholson gives an account of 

 the structure of Riccia commutata Jack, a species new to Britain and 

 lately found in Sussex, Kent, Gloucester, and Worcester. He also de- 

 scribes Fossombronia Busnoti Corb. var. anglica, a new variety found at 

 Babbacombe and Llandovery, and characterized by larger spores with 

 less distinctly areolate markings, brownish rhizoids, and tri-spiral elaters. 



Thallophyta. 

 Algae. 



(By Mrs. E. S. Gepp.) 



Symmetrical Protophyte.§ — C. A. Kofoid describes a protophyte 

 with a coenobium of exceptional regularity and remarkable resemblance 

 to a lenticular egg with equal cleavage. It had sixteen cells. It 

 was found in a local reservoir in Berkeley, California, U.S.A., in 

 March 1912. No trace of the methods of reproduction was found. 

 The author places it provisionally in CcelastraceaB, since its structural 

 relations, form of colony, and type of cell-protrusion agree more closely 

 with that family than any other. He calls it Phytomorula regularis. 



Autogenesis of Nematocysts.|| — E. Chatton records nematocysts 

 or cindocysts in two Peridiniese, Polykrikos Schivartzi and Pouchetia 



* Journ. Bot., Hi. (1914) pp. 119-24. 



t Bryologist, xvii. (1914) pp. 42-4. 



\ Journ. Bot., lii. (1914) pp. 105-7. 



§ Univ. California Publications, Bot., vi. (1914) pp. 35-40 (1 pi.). 



|| Comptes Rendus, clviii. (1914) pp. 434-7 (1 fig.). 



