ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 201 



and the dichotomous the closely creeping species. The mosses branch 

 monopodially. The sphagna are so peculiar in their ramifications as to 

 confirm the view that they form an isolated moss type. 



Androgynous Inflorescences in Dumortiera.* — A. Ernst has made 

 a special study of two Javan species of Dumortiera, D. trichocephala 

 N. ab E., and D. velutina Schiffn., and compares hi$ results with the 

 work done in other species of the genus by Leitgeb and Goebel. He 

 describes the habit and place of growth of the two species under con- 

 sideration, and then gives a short description of their male and female 

 receptacles. Besides these, he finds in D. trichocephala frequently, and 

 more rarely in D. velutina, inflorescences of mixed sex, that is, shoots 

 which have come to bear sexual organs, the rays of which do not all bear 

 organs of similar sex. These are by no means exceptional growths, as 

 in Preissia commutata, but quite common in D. trichocephala on plants 

 collected from many localities in Java. This species differs, therefore, 

 from the generality of Marchantioideae Cornpositae in being monoecious, 

 not dioecious, inasmuch as it possesses male, female, and mixed in- 

 florescences, on different branches of the same plant. Statistics are 

 given as to the occurrence of mixed inflorescences in both D. tricho- 

 cephala and D. velutina. 



Comparison between Muscinese and Vascular Cryptogams.! — 

 G. Bonnier reviews the theories put forward from time to time by various 

 authors as to an analogy between the respective parts of plants in these 

 two groups, but he condemns them all as being untenable, and pronounces 

 the Muscineae to be a group by itself, occupying a special position in the 

 vegetable kingdom. He then proceeds to examine possible intermediates 

 between Muscineae and Vascular Cryptogams on the one hand and 

 Muscineae and Thallophytes on the other, the former of these considera- 

 tions being the subject of the present paper. This he does, after a few 

 preliminary remarks, under the following headings : (1) Comparison of 

 the Gametophyte in Muscineae and Vascular Cryptogams ; (2) Com- 

 parison of the Sporophyte ; and (3) Comparison of the mode of 

 multiplication. In conclusion, he points out that notwithstanding 

 comparisons and homologies, the Muscineae present great differences from 

 other plants. Though Anthoceros resembles Vascular Cryptogams in its 

 gametophyte, it differs profoundly in its sporophyte ; and though an 

 alga of the Florid eae in protonema, sporogonium and thallus may have a 

 general development very comparable with that of a moss, it differs 

 profoundly in the origin of the spore mother-cells, the archegonium and 

 antheridium. 



Thallophyta. 



Algse. 



(By Mrs. E. S. Gepp.) 



Staining of Algae.} — F. Brand has made interesting experiments, 

 proving that the use of various reagents is not only a convenient means 



* Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., xxv. (1907) pp. 455-64 (1 pi.), 

 t Rev. Gen. Bot., xix. (1907) pp. 513-21 (figs, in text). 

 t Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., xxv. (1907) pp. 497-506. 



April 15th, 1908 p 



