ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 491 



Influence of Light and Darkness on Germination of Fern-spores.* 

 H. Fischer discusses the germination of fern-spores in light and darkness, 

 giving a brief resume of the conflicting results obtained by Bnrgestein, 

 Laage, and Schulze. Germination in the dark occurs in Ceratopteris and 

 in the Ophioglosseae. And now it is shown that the same thing can 

 occur in Polypodium vulgar e, but the resulting filament is etiolated. 

 Germination in light appears to be the normal process. 



Corsican Ferns. f — J. Briquet gives a list of the Pteridophytes of 

 Corsica, amounting to forty-nine species and several varieties and forms. 

 The distribution in the island, the synonymy and citations, are duly set 

 forth ; and some descriptive and critical notes are interspersed. 



Queensland Ferns. J — J. H. Maiden and E. Betche publish notes on 

 some ferns gathered by R. F. Waller in the Heberton district, Queens- 

 land. Polypodium Walleri and Hymenophyllum Walleri are described as 

 new, and Polypodium cucidlatum Nees and BL, Asplenium amamum 

 Presl and A. normals Don are recorded as new to Australia. 



Malayan Ferns.§ — C. R. W. K. van Alderwerelt van Rosenburgh 

 has published a handbook to the determination of the ferns of the 

 Malayan Islands, including those of the Malay Peninsula, the Philip- 

 pines, and New Guinea. The work includes no less than 1587 species, 

 classified mainly on the lines of Christensen's Index Filicum, and is pro- 

 vided with keys to the families, tribes, genera, and species. It contains 

 about sixty new species, about half of which were published almost 

 simultaneously, and figured, in the Bull. Depart. Agric. aux Indes 

 Xeerlandaises. The book had its origin in the task of naming the un- 

 determined material in the Buitenzorg herbarium. 



Subsequently he published || an enumeration of Malayan species of 

 Pleopeltis, which is intended as a correction of the above-mentioned 

 handbook. He accepts the view that it is better to regard Pleopeltis as 

 generically distinct from Polypodium. He therefore separates off under 

 Pleopeltis 113 species which appeared under Polypodium in the handbook. 

 And he places Selliguea as a section of Pleopeltis. 



He also has provided a revised list 1 of Filices Horti Bogoriensis, 

 ferns cultivated in the Buitenzorg Botanical Gardens, Raciborski's deter- 

 minations having fallen out of date. 



He gives the name Stenolepia to a new genus,** in which he places 

 Aspidium triste Blume, a fern referred by others to Alsophila, Gystopteris 

 and Davallia. He finds it to be allied to Cystopteris, and to have a 

 superficial resemblance to Diacalpe aspidioides. 



Chinese Ferns. ft — H. Christ publishes a list of forty ferns collected 

 in the province of Hupeh, and forty-three collected in the province of 

 Szech'uan, by E. H. Wilson during the years 1907-1908. Descriptions 



* Beih. Bot. Centralbl., xxvii. lte Abt. (1911) pp. 60-2. 



t Prodrome de la Flore Corse. I. Geneve : Georg, 1910, pp. 1-36. 



J Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S.W., xxxv. (1911) pp. 799-802. 



§ Batavia : (1909) xl, 899, and 11 pp. See also Bull. Soc. Bot. France, lvi. 

 (1909) pp. 415-16. 



|| Bull. Depart. Agric. Indes Neerlandaises, Buitenzorg, xxvii. (1909) pp. 1-12 

 (4 pis.). % Tom. cit., pp. 13-44 (2 pis.). 



** Tom. cit., pp. 45-6 (1 pi.). tt Bot. Gaz., li. (1911) pp. 345-59 (figs.). 



