26g BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



cones two to three feet long, and leaves seven feet long. For a Cycad 

 this is most remarkable. 



M. Planchon reports a new species of Cissus from the interior of 

 Sierra Leone, capable of bearing the winter of Marseilles. Its en- 

 durance is a matter of temperament, and a proof of the extent of the 

 scale of resistance to cold and heat which some plants possess, and 

 which often upsets all prevision. 



The Journal of Botany for September gives quite a full account 

 of the life and character of the late Mr. H. C. Watson, the eminent 

 English botanical geographer, who died the 27th of July. The article 

 is accompanied by an excellent portrait. 



Mr. G. S. Jenman has described a new tree fern from Jamaica, 

 which lie calls Cyathca inotistrabilia. Its trunk is four or more feet 

 high and three inches in diameter, while the fronds are three or four 

 feet long and 15-20 inches wide. 



Mr. Henry M. Douglass, of Richland, N. Y. , is publishing a 

 translation of the Botqnischc Zrifunf; which he calls tlie Botanical 

 News. The subscription price is fixed at $2.50 per year. 



Mr. L. F. Henneguy confirms the observations of Brant that an 

 aqueous solution of aniline brown, known in commerce as Bismarck 

 brown, will give an intense brownish-yellow color to the i)rotoplasm 

 of the infusoria without in any way interfering with their enjoyment of 

 life. The coloration first appears in the vacuoles of the protoplasm, 

 then this latter is itself stained, the nucleus being most generally not 

 at first colored, and so being made more consjiicunus. Experiments 

 made on vegetable protoplasm seemed to exhibit the same result. 



Prof. E. S. Bastin, of Chicago, has found near Lake Michigan 

 a most curious form ot Cypripcdiuni spcdabilc. A single stem bears 

 two flowers, one normal and the other almost regular. This "mon- 

 ster" had three distinct and equal sepals ; three nearly equal petals, 

 shaped like the sepals, but narrower, and with no trace of a "slipper ;" 

 ovary not at all twisted ; three distinct anthers instead of two ; tliree- 

 lobed stigma. Instead of the triangular fleshy body, heretofore sup- 

 posed to represent the third stamen, there were two of these bodies 

 alternating with the petals, and if representing stamens at all, they 

 must be an outer whorl. Of course two whorls of stamens are just 

 what we want, for they are more typical than one. This Cypripcdium 

 seemed to have taken a long stride backwards towards some of its an- 

 cestral forms that were regular. 



The Summer School of Botany in the LTniversity of Minnesota, 

 seems to have been a success, about forty teachers having enrolled 

 themselves. Prof. Bessey gives the outline of his laboratory course 

 as follows: L General Histology of Plants. — Protoplasm in hairs and 

 tissues, cells, cell walls and their markings, chlorophyll, starch, plant 

 crvstals, parenchyma, collenchyma, sclerenchyma, fibrous tissue, lati- 

 ciferous tissue, sieve tissue, tracheary tissue, epidermis, stomata, hairs, 

 fibro-vascular bundles, n. The Structure and Physiology of Cryptogmas. 

 — (i) The Sexless Plants ('Protojihyta), Protococcus, Nostoc, Oscilla- 

 toria, Rivularia. yeast plant, Bacteria; (2) The Unisexual Plants 

 (Z.'gosporeajj, Hydrodictyon, Conferva, Desmids, Diatoms, Spirogy. 



