BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 323 



The canal of the archegonium is terminated at itssummit by a delicate hyaline 

 membrane forming a sort of funnel, which is covered on the inner surface by 

 excessively fine filaments, doubtless for the purpose of facilitating the passage 

 of the antherozoids into the archegonium. It will be remembered that the 

 same end is attained in Marsiliq by means of a mass of mucilage at the mouth 

 of the archegonium which acts as a funnel. 



Puccinia Proserpinace Farlow has been found very plentiful about 

 Chicago, in so far confirming the opinion given in the last Gazette (ante p. 

 302) that it is widely distributed. 



Volkens, by examining plants early in the morning, taking precautions 

 against deception by dew, has found a large number of plants exuding water. 

 He describes, in the " Proceedings " of the Koyal Botanic Gardens of Berlin, 

 the water pores of 150 species of plants. His observations were mostly made 

 upon wild plants. 



In some remarks before the American Association at Minneapolis, Dr. 

 Farlow mentioned the discovery this season of peculiar conidiospores on some 

 Peronosporce from Illinois. Instead of the usual branched aerial hyphse bearing 

 numerous small spores being produced, there were extremely short ones having 

 a few spores of large size. The discovery is so recent that no opportunity has 

 been given to study their development, and their office can not be conjectured- 



The water-net, Hydrodictyon utricidatwm, is a very common alga through- 

 out Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. It is to be found in shallow water, along the 

 banks of rivers and small streams, and in pools having a constant supply of 

 water kept warm by the sun, noticeably those in stone quarries. It is quickly 

 l-ecognized by the large, angular meshes reaching half a centimeter or more in 

 diameter, seen best by raising the plant from the water. The old vesicular 

 mother-cells, a centimeter or two long, still containing the young nets, look 

 much like dead and bleached worms, as they lie undisturbed in the water. 



The life history of PeniciUium, common blue mould, will soon be issued 

 from the botanical laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University. 



August Vogel, in Westermann's Monatshefle (translated in Pop. Sci. Mo. for 

 Oct.) sums up what is known in regard to the pigments of plants, but unfortu- 

 nately includes among them some things that we don't know. Light has a 

 powerful, but not indispensable, influence in determining vegetable colors, and 

 their intensity depends somewhat on the intensity of the light. Almost none of 

 the flower pigments are available as dyes on account of their transitory nature. 

 If Herr Vogel's translator interprets him correctly, the explanation given of 

 the white color of flowers — "generally produced by a white cellular juice" — 

 is wide of the mark. In Herr Vogel's opinion, tannin is an important factor in 

 the generation of vegetable colors. He also believes that the form of the pig- 

 ment exerts great influence on the shade of color. 



The continuity op the protoplasm throughout the plant seems to be set- 

 tled with tolerable certainty. W. Hillhouse has just added to our knowledge 

 on the subject a fresh series of observations, conducted in Prof. Strasburger's 



