ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 8 



17 



dorsiventral. The leaves are provided with stipular appendages which 

 enclose the youngest leaves and pass over the apex of the stem. They 

 more closely resemble the corresponding organs of Botrychium than 

 those of Ophioglossum. The rhizome possesses a single stele ; the vas- 

 cular elements in all except the youngest stems enclose an axile pith. 

 There is an inner irregular and an outer well-developed and regular 

 endoderm. The xykm is mesarch. There is no secondary formation of 

 vascular tissue. Adventitious buds may be formed on the stem. The leaf- 

 traces are single at their origin ; the bundles are collateral. The apex 

 of both stem and root is provided with an apical cell. The vascular 

 strand of the root varies from tetiarch to heptarch. Tbe root branches 

 monopodially ; but as a rule the lateral roots are abortive or temporary. 



Muscineee. 



Cell-membrane of Muscinese.*— Prof. F. Czapek states that hadro- 

 mal, the subject of the lignin-reaction in the higher plants, is entirely 

 wanting in the cell-walls of both Musci and Hepaticae. It is very rare 

 for the cell-walls of the MuscineaB to display a cellulose reaction, ex- 

 cept after boiling for a shorter or longer time in soda-lye. They very 

 often respond to Millon's or to a black iron reaction. The substances 

 causing this reaction — the material chiefly examined being Sphagnum 

 and Trichocolea tomentella — are one of a phenol-character to which the 

 author gives the name sphagnol, and a tannin-like compound dicranum- 

 tannin. The author describes in detail the mode by which these sub- 

 stances can be extracted from the living plant, stating the part of the 

 plant in which they are found, and giving a very long list of species of 

 both Musci and Hepaticte which yield them. The aromatic sphagnol 

 probably contributes to the remarkable property possessed by Sphagnum 

 of checking decay ; while the dicranum-tannin serves to protect the 

 leaves against long exposure to moisture. 



Makinoa, a New Genus of Hepaticae.f — Under the name Mahinoa 

 crispata g. et sp. n., Prof. K. Miyake describes a new genus of Hepaticae 

 from Japan, belonging to the thallose Jungermannieas, and resembling 

 Pellia in appearance. The following is the diagnosis: — Plantaa fron- 

 dosae, dichotome ramosse, dioicae, ventre e medio costae rhiziferae ; arche- 

 gonia numerosa, autica, in alveolo subapicali aggregata, squama dorsali 

 dentata tecta ; antheridia similiter inserta, squama humili semilunata e 

 tergo circumplexa ; sperrnatozoidea maxima ; capsulu ambitu oblongo- 

 elliptica, longe pedunculata, fusco-brunnea, parietibus bistratis ; elateres 

 longi, apicibus longe attenuatis, bispiri, spiris uno latere incrassatim 

 confluentibus ; sporae virescentes, parvae, subsphaericae, reticulatim lame'i 

 latae ; calyptra cylindrica, squama involucrali multo longior. Sterile 

 specimens have been described under the name Pellia crispata. 



Frullania.ij: — Mr. A. W. Evans gives a general description of this 

 genus of Hepaticae, with a revision of the North American species. The 

 infloresceuce is treated as a character of the greatest importance in the 

 determination of species. The 22 North American species (2 of them 



* Flora, Ixxxvi. (1S99) pp. 361-81. 



t Hedwigia, xxxviii. (1899) pp. 201-3 (1 pi.). 



% Trans. Connecticut Acad. Arts and Sci., x. (1893) pp. 1-39 (15 pis.). 



