ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 381 



able. If the theory of the ascending development of the Bryophyta is 

 accepted, with Riccia presenting the mosl primitive form of sporogonram, 

 the conclusion is natural that the Bryophyte sporogonium had an anti- 

 thetic origin, and has never been anything but a sporogonium. As to 

 the vascular plants, and the suggestion that the starting-point of the 

 Pteridophyta may be sought in the sporogonium of Anthoceros, there are 

 very great difficulties in the way of an explanation of how roots and 

 leaves originated. It is much easier to infer that the Bryophyta and 

 Pteridophyta had a collateral origin. 



Desiccation-phenonema in Mosses.* — C. Steinbrinck discusses the 

 cause of the crumpling of certain axile organs as a result of the loss of 

 water, principally in the case of the mosses Leptodon Smithii, Leucodon 

 sciuroides, and Orthotrichum Lyellii. As on previous occasions, he finds 

 himself in strong opposition to W. Lorch. 



Illustrations of Exotic Mosses.| — G. Roth publishes the fourth and 

 concluding part of his Die aussereuropaischen Laubmoose, Band I. It 

 contains descriptions of 52 species of Trematodon, and 7 of Wilsoniella, 

 together with figures of each species, analytical keys, and the indexes, 

 title-pages, etc., to the volume. 



European HepaticaB.J — K. Muller publishes a further instalment of 

 his monograph of the European hepatica? in Rabenhorst's Kryptogamen- 

 flora. He finishes the genus Plagiochila, the seven species of which are 

 all found in our islands ; and treats of Pedinophyllum (2 species), 

 Leptoscyphus (4), Lophocolea (5), Ghiloscyphus (4), and begins Harpan- 

 thus. 



British Bryophyta. § — B. Kaalaas publishes a description of 

 Cephalozia macrantha Kaal. et Nicholson, a new species found in a Sussex 

 Sphagnum-hog by W. E. Nicholson, in June 1908. It differs from 

 Cephalozia media Lindb. in size, in the more frequent presence of under- 

 leaves, in the much larger leaf -cells, and especially in the large perianth. 



H. N. Dixon || gives an account of Tortula canescens Mont., which 

 was first recorded for this country by Griffiths in 18G9. It was refonnd 

 last year in its original locality, Meadfoot Cliffs, Torquay, by Barter. In 

 February of this year C. E. Larter sent young specimens of it to H. N. 

 Dixon ; these were remarkable as often having the calyptra rough, as in 

 Pottia. Dixon explains the structure of the leaf-nerve as seen in trans- 

 verse section. 



Moss-remains in Scottish Peat.lF — F. J. Lewis, in an appendix 

 to Part IV. of his report on the plant-remains in the Scottish peat 

 mosses, gives an account of the moss-fragments determined by H. N. Dixon, 

 some eighteen or twenty species. They were collected partly in West 

 Shetland, partly in Havnaf jord, near Reykjavik, in Iceland. 



* Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., xxviii. (1911) pp. 549-62 (figs.). 



t Dresden : Heinrich (1911) i. lief. 4, pp. 273-331 (pis. 25-33). 



j Die Lebermoose. Leipzig : Kurnmer, 1911, lief. 13, pp. 769-832 (figs. 341-357). 



§ Journ. of Bot., xlix. (1911) pp. 105-6 (1 pi.). 



H Tom. cit., pp. 127-8. 



t Trans. R. Soc. Edinburgh, xlvii. (1911) pp. 793-833 (5 pis.). 



June 21st, 1911 2 c 



