Physiologie. — Palaeontologie. 373 



des Stickstoffs der Amidosäuren statt. Damit erhält die Hypothese 

 von Pfeffer und von E. Schulze, dass aus Asparagin sich in den 

 Pflanzen Eiweiss bilden könne, eine Stütze. — Für die Samen der 

 Leguminosenfrüchte konnte eine Zunahme des Gesamtstickstoffs 

 konstatiert und eine Einwanderung von Eiweissstickstoff aus den 

 Hülsen in die Samen sehr wahrscheinlich gemacht werden. 



K. Snell. 



Watt, R. D., The ingredients of „Plant Food", (Transvaal 

 Agric. Journ. VII. 25. p. 47-48. 1908.) 



Barley plants were grown in water cultures in a normal food 

 Solution except as regards the amount of phosphoric acid present. 

 This varied from twice the normal quantity down to an entire 

 absence of the acid. The results indicated that up to a certain point, 

 i. e. a normal amoant of phosphoric acid, the development of the 

 stem and leaves increased with increasing amounts of the acid, 

 bej^ond which no advantage was gained. The influence of the in- 

 creasing quantities on the roots was much more marked, the deve- 

 lopment being nearly in proportion to the phosphoric acid supplied. 



W. E. Brenchley. 



Kidston, R. and D. T. Gwynne-Vaughan. On the Fossil Osmz^w- 

 daceae. Part I. (Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh. XLV. 3. 27. p. 

 760-778. pl. 1—6. 1907 [1908]. 



This paper deals with the fossil genus Osnnindites, and contains 

 a detailed description of two new species, 0. Dmilopi, and O. Gib- 

 biana as well as a critical consideration of several already known 

 species. 



The new fossils are from the Jurassic rocks of New Zealand, 

 both apparently from the same bed, and are preserved in silica. 



Osinundites Dtmlopi is represented by a Single specimen ©f the 

 stem, with a large number of surrounding leaf-bases, of which most 

 of the tissues are preserved. "The most important anatomical cha- 

 racter of this species is the almost complete absence of leaf-gaps in 

 the xylem ring of the stem." The xylem of the main axis consists 

 of a ring of tracheids with no admixture of parenchyma. There 

 appears to have been several rows of pits on the tracheid walls. In 

 the petiole the xylem forms a half circle, and further up, a horse 

 shoe with deeply incurved ends. Numerous diarch rootlets run through 

 the cortex of the stem and leaf bases. They arise adventitiously from 

 the leaf traces, and, apparently, never directly from the stem. 



Osnnindites Gibbiana is also represented by a Single specimen, 

 a Stem with surrounding leaf-bases. The xylem ring consists of about 

 20 distinct Strands separated by thinwalled tissue. The xylem of the 

 outermost leaf-bases is in the form of a horse-shoe with deeply in- 

 rolled ends. The rootlets are very delicate, arising from the leaf- 

 traces as they pass through the cortex of the stem. 



Both species agree in essentials with the modern Osmundaceae. 

 The authors discuss the possible relationship with various genera, 

 and give a redescription of Osniundites Dowkeri, and 0. skidegatensis. 

 The latter they separate widely from their new forms. In the para- 

 graph on theoretical considerations the authors differ from Jeffrey, 

 and "prefer to consider the Osmundaceous t5^pe of vascular System 

 as directly derived from a primitive stele." In a short concluding 

 Paragraph on the Ancestry of the Osmundaceae the authors take 



