ZOOLOGY' A.ND BOTA.NY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 577 



on the relation between the form, texture, and structure of the loaf and 

 its environment, now gives a systematic review of tho various climato- 

 cecological types of leaves found in a number of natural orders of 

 dicotyledons and monocotyledons. 



Study of the Genus Serapias.*— G. Zodda describes a new variety 

 metadata of Serapias lingua from Messina, and adds remarks on the 

 floral structure of this and the other species of the genus. He also 

 discusses their phylogeny. 



Malformations of the Flower of Orchids. + — Gustav Stenzel, of 

 Breslau, gives a detailed and classified description of the abnormalities 

 which he himself has noticed and which have been recorded by other 

 workers, in endemic species of orchids. In an introductory chapter he 

 discusses the value, from a general morphological point of view, of the 

 phenomena presented by teratology. He regards them as a useful aid 

 to the solution of problems in morphology. He then reviews the cases, 

 noted by himself and others, of abnormal female cones in Abietinese, by 

 study of which Alexander Braun was led to suggest the view now 

 generally accepted of the morphology of the ovule-bearing structures. 



In the case of orchids only those cases are included which were found 

 on plants growing under natural conditions. The majority are tho 

 result of an alteration in the number of the parts of the flower; a 

 smaller division contains those caused by replacement of an organ by 

 one of a different character, such as lip by normal petal, or lateral petals 

 by lip-like structures, in fact, mainly cases of peloria. The observations 

 afford an excellent example of teratological variety in one type of flower, 

 but do not throw any new light on its morphology. 



North American Carices.ij: — Theo. Holm contributes another article 

 to his series, entitled Studies in the Cyperacese. He discusses the small 

 section Physocephalre of L. H. Bailey, to which a few species with an 

 inflated utricle have been referred. As a result of a morphological and 

 anatomical examination of the species he concludes that the section is 

 an unnatural one and cannot stand. The well-marked Gar ex Fraseri 

 he places in a new section of its own which he calls Leucocephalaj. 



Tertiary Plants from the Himmelsberg.§— H. Engelhardt gives a 

 descriptive list of fossil plants from this locality in central Germany. 

 He enumerates more than one hundred species belonging to 46 families 

 and 69 genera ; they include four new leaf-fungi. The flora of the 

 Himmelsberg, like other tertiary European floras, contains a large pro- 

 portion of plant-types which are not included in the recent flora. In 

 the present case, American types are most strongly represented, being 

 twice as many as the Asiatic, three times as many as the European, and 

 seven times as many as the Australian and African. 



Botany of Tasmania.|| — L. Eodway gives a short general review of 

 the botany (flowering plants and ferns) of Tasmania, and also f records 

 a few additions to the flora of the island. 



* Nuovo Giorn. Botan. Itai, nuov. ser. ix. (1902) pp. 173-89. 



t Bibliotheca Botanica, Heft 55 (19<>2) pp. 136 (6 pis.). 



t Amer. Journ. Sci., ser. 4, xiv. (1902) pp. 57-63 (1 piA 



$ Abhandl. Senckenb. Natu.f. Geaell., xx. (1902) pp. 251-306 («';!?•)■ 



|| Papers and Proc. Boy. Soc. Tasmania, 1900-1901 (1902) pp. 85&W-9. 



f Tom. cit., pp. 107-8. 



