I04 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [january 



development of plant pathology in Japan"; S. Ito, "A preliminary report on 

 a late blight resistant strain of potato"; T. Hemmi, "Vorlaiifige Mitteilung 

 iiber eine neue Anthraknose von Evonymus japonica"; S. Miura, "On the 

 grain of barley or wheat, infected by smut fungus through the flower " ; S. HoRi 

 and U. BoKURA, "Soy bean cake as a substitute for peptone in the preparation 

 of nutrient media."— J. M. C. 



Evolution of maize. — Weatherwax^' has made a detailed study of the 

 origin of maize, concerning which there has been much discussion. A com- 

 parative study of many varieties of maize and related species has led him to 

 the theory that vestigial organs indicate that Zea, Euchlaena, and Tripsacum 

 are of the same structural type, their present peculiarities being due to the 

 suppression of parts present in a primitive ancestor with perfect flowers and 

 one type of inflorescence. The ear of maize is regarded as the homologue of the 

 central spike of the tassel. The prevailing theory that maize is of hybrid 

 origin he regards as untenable, his conclusion being that Zea and the other two 

 genera mentioned "have descended independently from a common ancestral 

 form now extinct." — J. M. C. 



Ferns of Borneo. — Copeland" has brought together in a convenient list 

 the ferns of Borneo, accompanied by analytical keys. The fern flora is very 

 impressive, including 697 recorded species, representing 88 genera. In another 

 paper^'' the same author shows that the riches of the fern flora are far from 

 exhausted, for he describes 43 new species from Borneo, 12 of which are species 

 of Cyathea, and also a new genus {Oreogrammatis) related to Polypodium. — 

 J. M. C. 



Bryophytes of Iceland. — Hesselbo^i has published a rather complete 

 account of the Bryophytes of the island of Iceland. His annotated Ust shows 

 93 species of the Hepaticae, 20 of the Sphagnales, and 325 of the Musci. These 

 he further discusses as to their aggregation in communities and their altitudinal 

 and horizontal distribution. — Geo. D. Fuller. 



" Weatherwax, Paul, The evolution of maize. Bull. Terr. Bot. Club 45:309- 

 342. figs. 36. 1918. 



"CoPELAND, E. B., Keys to the ferns of Borneo. Sarawak Mus. Journ. 2: 287- 

 424. 1917. 



23 , New species and a new genus of Borneo ferns. Philipp. Jour. Sci. 12: 



45-65. 1917. 



^ Hesselbo, Aug., The Bryophyta of Iceland. The Botany of Iceland. Ed. 

 by RosENviNGE, L. K., and Warming, Eug. i: pt. II. 397-676. 1918. 



