ZOOLOGY AM> BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 379 



Fossil Osmundacese.* — R. Kidston and I». T. Crwynne-Vaughan 

 publish the fourth and final instalment of their studies of the fossil 

 Osmundacese. They describe the anatomy of the stern of the new species, 

 Osmundites Kolbei, from the Wealden in Cape Colony. In summarizing 

 their studies they present a table of all the.Osmundacese investigated by 

 them, showing that the protostelic representatives are of more ancient 

 origin than those with a developed pith. Their hypothesis, that the 

 pith of the Osmundaceas is of stelar origin is, inter alia, criticised by 

 E. C. Jeffrey. t 



Chemotaxis of Fern-spermatozoids.J — K. Shibata gives an account 

 of his researches on the chemotaxis of the spermatozoids of Pteridophytes. 

 His experiments are set forth in innumerable tables. There are at least 

 three categories of chemotactic sensibilities : 1. That for the anions of 

 malic acid and allied chemotactically active dicarbonic acids. 2. That 

 for OH-ions (only found in Isoetes). 3. That for the kations (metallic- 

 and H-ions) and alkaloids. 



Mutations of Asplenium ruta-muraria.§ — F. von Tavel writes of 

 the mutations of Asplenium ruta-muraria. H. Christ, in 1903, || classified 

 them in four sections and seventeen varieties, according to the form of 

 the ultimate leaf-segments. Von Tavel discusses the causes of this 

 variability, namely, ecological conditions, such as light, shade, etc. ; re- 

 gular heterophylly on one and the same plant, perhaps due to seasonal 

 changes ; sports, where one or more leaves of a plant-rosette are quite of 

 an aberrant type. Local forms are apt to be constant ; for instance, 

 the form prevalent on the Lake of Geneva is quite different from that of 

 the Lake of Lucerne. There is usually a predominant form in a given 

 locality, accompanied by variants. 



North American Ferns. % — W. N. Clute describes Pohjpodium pro- 

 longilobum and P. vulgare var. perpusillum, two novelties gathered by 

 J. H. Ferriss on Mount Lemmon in the Santa Catalina range, Arizona. 



He discusses** Asplenium Glenn iei, one of the rarest ferns in the 

 United States, and recorded only from the Huachuca Mountains of 

 Arizona, but it is not uncommon in Mexico. 



He cites ft J- H. Ferriss's record of Nephrodium mexicanum, and 

 considers the question whether the plant is not better kept distinct from 

 N. patulum. 



He gives an account % X of Onoclea sensibilis f. obtusilata, and some 

 other rare forms. 



He also describes §§ a difficult excursion through a dense mountain- 

 forest in Jamaica in search of the rare Lonchitis aurita. 



E. Jennings mi publishes some notes on the distribution of certain 

 plants in Western Pennsylvania, treating especially of Woodwardia vir- 

 gin tea. 



* Trans. Eoy. Soc. Edinburgh, xlvii. (1910) pp. 455-77 (4 pis.). 



t Bot. Gaz., 1. (1910) pp. 476-7. 



t Pringsheim's Jahrb. wiss. Bot., xlix. (1911) pp. 1-60. 



§ Verb. Schweiz. Naturf. Ges. 93 Jahresversam. (1911) pp. 260-2. 



1| Hedwigia, xlii. (1903) pp. 153-77 (4 pis.). 



i Fern Bull., xviii. (1911) pp. 97-8 (1 pi.). ** Tom. cit., pp. 101-4 (figs.), 

 tt Tom. cit., pp. 104-5. JJ Tom. cit., pp. 106-11 (figs.). 



§§ Tom. cit., pp. 111-15. Illl Tom. cit., pp. 99-101. 



