320 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Formosa. The plant is somewhat anomalous, having the habit of the 

 Japanese genus Gryi)tomeria. while the cone bears some resemblance to 

 that of the Chinese genus Canninglmmia, and recalls superficially that 

 of Tsuga. The vegetative shoots show the heterophylly so frequent 

 in genera of the tribe Cupressine^. The author considers that the 

 genus is most nearly allied to Cunninghamia, from which it differs in 

 the absence of a secondary cone-scale, and in having two ovules on each 

 scale. 



Botanical Study of Areas in the United States of North America. 

 C. V. Piper * gives an account of the flora of the State of Washington, 

 so far as concerns the vascular plants. The systematic portion is 

 preceded by a brief historical account of botanical exploration in the 

 State, a description of its physiography, geology, and climate, and a 

 discussion on the zonal distribution of the plants, with a reference 

 to regions of peculiar botanical interest. This part is illustrated by 

 numerous excellent plates depicting scenery and plant associations. In 

 the systematic account each genus is provided with a key to the 

 species. A list is given of nearly 190 species and sub-species, including 

 two monotypic genera, known to occur only in Washington. 



R. M. Harper t has studied on similar lines the Altamaha grit region 

 of Georgia. 



Cotton-plant. J — A. Flatters gives an account of the microscopic 

 structure of the cotton-plant in the form of a description of a number 

 of photographic reproductions of microscopic preparations. These in- 

 clude the structure of the root, stem, leaf, flower (longitudinal and 

 transverse sections of buds), fruit, and seed ; and detailed structure of the 

 fibre of various kinds of cotton. 



CRYPTOGAMS. 



Pteridophyta. 



(By A Gepp, M.A., F.L.S.) 



Variability in Ferns.§ — W. Krieger gives an account of various 

 new and interesting forms of German Pteridophytes, collected chiefly 

 ■ in Saxony. In Saxon Switzerland slight variations of environment 

 are found by the author to cause all kinds of different variations in 

 certain species ; and indeed at one spot it was quite impossible to 

 account for the extraordinary variations exhibited by Athyrium Filix- 

 femina. Thirty -four species are noted ; and under A. Filix-femina as 

 many as 27 varieties are enumerated without monstrosities, and even 

 then the tale is not complete. Polypodium vidgare is credited with 

 21 varieties, and Bhchnum spicant with 17. 



Effect of Environment on Fern-structure. |1— J. H. Mcllroy pub- 

 lishes the results of some experiments made to ascertain how far in 



* Contributions from the U.S. National Herbarium, xi. (1906) 637 pp., 18 pis. 



t Ann. New York Acad. Sci., xvii. part 1 (1906) 357 pp., 28 pis. 



X The Cotton-plant : its Development and Structure, and the Evolution and 

 Structure of the Cotton Fibre. London : Sherratt and Hughes (1906) 92 pp., 

 34 figs. § Hedwigia, xlvi. (1907) pp. 246-61. 



II Proc. Roy. Phil. Soc. Glasgow, xxxvii. (1906) pp. 136-41 (1 pi. and figs.). 



