424 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



raacropodous embryo of the Helobise ; the so-called cotyledons of 

 Nelumbo, Nymplwa and Castalia represent hypocotyledonary expan- 

 sions homologous to the expansions found in Zoster a and other genera 

 of the Helobire. In fine, there are several types of embryo in Angio- 

 sperms, which approach each other at various points in widely separated 

 orders. The division line between Monocotyls and Dicotyls is not very 

 distinct. Although Angiosperms are far removed from all other plants, 

 they represent so vigorous a modern group that there has not been 

 time for the extinction of intermediate forms. "With the removal of 

 a few connecting groups it would be easy to recognise six or seven 

 classes of Angiosperms instead of two. With our increasing knowledge 

 of the embryogeny of Angiosperms it is becoming more and more 

 apparent that the mere difference in the character of the embryo is not 

 sufficient to determine the position of a genus or family. The writer 

 refers to a former conclusion which he based on palajontological studies 

 that Monocotyledons did not come from Dicotyledons nor the latter 

 from the former ; that the Angiosperms do not represent two sharply 

 defined classes, but that there are a number of lines of development 

 from some common stock ; and that on this account there are frequent 

 independent duplications of important characters in quite distinct series 

 of forms. 



Byblis gigantea.* — A. G. Hamilton describes the habit and struc- 

 ture of this West Australian member of the insectivorous order Dro- 

 seraceas, from observations of fresh specimens. The plant grows along 

 with Drosera in swamps which are deficient in nitrogenous matter. The 

 glandular hairs, which occur on the stem, leaves, flower-stalks and calyx 

 do not differ essentially from those found in many other plants, such as 

 Plumbago or Primula. The writer confirms Darwin's suggestion as to 

 its method of capturing insects, solely by the aid of the viscid secretion. 

 When an insect is caught by the stalked glands, these collapse under 

 the weight and pour out secretion ; the insect rests on the sessile glands 

 which add to the flow of liquid. This gradually dissolves the solvent 

 portions, and the solution runs down the channels in which the sessile 

 glands are seated and is absorbed by them. After all the solvent parts 

 have been removed the glands cease to secrete, and the undigested parts 

 dry up and drop off. The leaves are triangular in section ; inside the 

 epidermis is a layer of palisade and spongy tissue of three or four rows 

 of cells. The centre of the leaf contains a mass of large-celled pith ; 

 there are five vascular bundles, one small and one larger in the angles 

 of the side facing the stem, while at the outer angle of the leaf is one 

 bundle much larger than any of the others. Towards the base of the 

 leaf there are more than five bundles ; the leaf has a nearly circular 

 outline there, and serial sections show the bundles widening out, so that 

 at the axil they form an incomplete ring. In the stem the bundles 

 also form an incomplete ring. The writer suggests that the leaves are 

 really branchlets which have taken on the functions of leaves. 



Regeneration in Lentibularieae.| — K. Goebel has studied the 

 phenomenon in members of this order, the leaves of which show a 



* Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales, xxviii. (1903) pp. 080-4 (1 pi.). 

 t Flora, xciii. (1904) pp. 98-126 (17 figs, in text). 



