BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 179 



common and very satisfactorily studied. The growth of the fertile 

 plant is very rapid, making the cells large and distinct. Besides, "the 

 spores germinate very readily if sown immediately after maturing, and 

 offer a most interesting example, in their development, of the growth 

 and division of cells. Within a few weeks of sowing, the anthendia 

 are produced abundantly, containing antherozoids of extraordinary 

 size, much larger than those of the mosses and ferns." 



F. Pax, after describing in detail instances of phyllody of the car- 

 pels of Aquilegia vulgaris and formosa, states as his opinion that the 

 two integuments of the ovule are equivalent to a leaflet. lie also 

 shows the identity of this leaflet with the pinnule of the fertile frond of 

 a fern and in the following table expresses the homology of the 

 parts: — '' , 



Fern. Ovule. 



Spore. 



Macrospore. Embryo-sac. 



Macrosporangium. - Nucellus. 



Sorus, Several nucelli. 



Pinnule. Ovular leaflet. 



We have received an advanced copy of the report of the Pro- 

 fessor of Botany and Horticulture of Michigan State Agricultural Col- 

 lege. Every botanist knows that this Professor is Dr. W. J, Beal, one 

 of the most successful teachers of botany in this country. Dr. Beal's 

 methods of instruction are widely known through the publication of a 

 paper prepared by him entitled "The New Botany," a paper which has 

 gone into the general circulation which it so well deserves through its 

 republication by Chas. Marot, of the hardener's Monthly. The report 

 just received shows not only Dr. Beal's methods of instruction, buL what 

 is a considerable solace to some of us, the means at his disposal. Finely 

 equipped as he is with natural gifts, these are supplemented by appli- 

 ances which are exceptional in the AVest, botanic garden, greenhouses, 

 and time furnishing splendid opportunities for studying botany m the, 

 only right way. To those A' us having no greenhouses, no botanic gar- 

 den, and only about 30 hours all told, and those in a season when nature s 

 botanic garden makes very little display, Dr. Beal's account of his 

 methods was rather discouraging. This report shows that the author is 

 a very busy man, but as all this hard work has brought success, he is 

 rather to be envied than pitied. 



Prof. J. C. Arthur has made an interesting discovery in the study 

 of the Schweinitzian species and specimens of microscopic fungi, which 

 throws considerable light upon what was very perplexing before. In 

 several cases no ingenuity could make the Schweinitzian specimens 

 agree with the descriptions undoubtedly based upon them. One illustra- 

 tion used is that of Uromyces Lespedeza\ which Schweinitz describe.] as 

 having two-celled spores and hence included under Puccinia, when 

 every student knows that the spores are unicellular. Prof. Arthur was 

 much puzzled over such discrepancies until it occurred to him to consid- 

 er the microscopes and methods of manipulation which were used by the 

 author in question. This at once furnished the key to the riddle, for 

 putting some dry spores of the fungus mentioned upon a slide and using 



