NOTICES OF SERIALS. 133 



Phytologist. No. 155. 8vo. London : J. Van Voorst. Price Is. 



April : — (Mudd, William) Account of the Lichens of Cleveland. Proceedings of 

 Societies — Linnean — Inflorescance of Cycas revoluta and Macrozamia spiralis ; 

 Observations on the Parasitism of Rhinanthus Cristi-galli, and its injurious effects 

 on growth of barley. These observations were made in a field, in the parish of 

 Debden, Essex, consisting of about 170 acres, principally a clayey soil, such as is 

 usually called heavy land ; 30 acres were under barley, and of these about 10 were 

 destroyed by this plant. The Rhinanthus (according to Mr. J. Charke, by whom 

 their memoir was read) effects this injury by the fibres of the roots attaching them- 

 selves to the fibres of the barley, on which they form small, round tubers, or what 

 may be more appropriately termed spongioles, which embrace the fibres so effec- 

 tually as to suck the juices of the plant, so as to starve it, and, in most instances, 

 ultimately destroy it. These spongioles are formed of a cellular tissue. The 

 ordinary method employed to destroy weeds, by a summer fallow, does not avail, 

 as the Rhinanthus does not grow in clean earth. The other method of destroying 

 weeds, by green crops in rows, is equally unsuccessful, as it does not grow among 

 green crops. As it is an annual, it should be pulled up before it seeds ; and as it 

 grows on a clay soil, and to no great extent, except in a wet season, the land should 

 be effectually drained. (Hooker, J. D.) On the Genus Hodgsonia; (Henfrey, A.) 

 Remarks on the Eye— spot of Infusoria and Microscopic Algae. Dublin Natural 

 History Society; Botanical Society of Edinburgh— (Balfour, Dr.) On the Pollen 

 of Zamia horrida. The pollen, he stated, to be, in its ordinary condition, ellipti- 

 cal, with a groove in one side, resembling very much a grain of wheat in appear- 

 ance. The groove is formed by the folding inwards of the edges of the pollen 

 grain, which, when fully expanded, under the action of water, becomes completely 

 spherical. When water is applied, under the microscope, to the elliptic pollen- 

 grains of Zamia, the two edges of the groove are seen to unfold and spread, so as 

 to produce the circular grain ; when allowed to dry, the grain resumes the circular 

 grooved condition. It is difficult to say which is the characteristic form — the one 

 being the dry state of the pollen, while the other is the moist condition. (Brown, 

 Rev. Thomas) Muscology of East Court of Fife, including a variety of Muium 

 affine, not previously found in fruit in Britain, besides several other unusual 

 species ; (Sanderson, J. S. B.) Note on the Supposed Antheridia of the Rhamnese ; 

 (Lawson, G.) On the Anatomical Structure of Coniferae and other Gymnogens ; 

 (Moore, Thomas) On Ophioglossum lusitanicum. The existence of this curious 

 little plant, in Guernsey, was first discovered, in the January of the present year, 

 by Mr. Wolsey, who met with it above the rocks, bordering on Petit Bot Bay, in 

 that island. One remarkable feature of the plant, is the early period of the year at 

 which its growth is made. By the middle of January, Mr. W. found the fronds 

 fully developed ; and the fronds, no doubt, perish early in the spring. It is not 

 improbable that a diligent search might be rewarded by its discovery in the western 

 counties of England or Ireland. Its early development and decay should be 

 borne in mind by those who undertake the search. Greenwich Natural History 

 Club— The President, George Burk, .Esq., exhibited a series of leaves of the 

 Bramble (Rubus fruticosus), which he had received from the Midland and 

 Southern Counties of England and Jersey, and which were affected with a disease 

 almost as general as the potato disease. The cause of this disease was a 



