ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY. ETC. 323 



the environment of the plants, and gives the names of nine other ferns 

 found in the vicinity. 



Azolia filiculoides in Italy.* — A. Beguinot and G. B. Traverso 

 allude to the rapidity with which Azoila caroUniana, after being in- 

 troduced into botanic gardens in various parts of Europe in 1872, 

 spread over the continent ; and also trace out more fully the history 

 of the invasion of Europe by the allied species, A. filicidoidcs, which 

 also was introduced from America. It first established itself at 

 Bordeaux in 1880, and spread rapidly through Gironde, threatening to 

 oust the native water-plants ; in 1888 it was reported from Cherbourg 

 and Fecamp ; in 1881) from Rennes and the Loire ; in 1892 from 

 Montpellier ; in 1898 from Orne ; in 1902 from Finistere. Soon 

 after 1900 it made its appearance in Italy; in the province of 

 Yenezia in 1901, where it is sometimes associated with Salvinia natans, 

 Potamogeton lucens, P. crispus, P. acutifolius, Hydrocharis 3Iorsus-rance, 

 Elodea canadensis, Hottonia palustris, Aldrovandia vesiculosa, Utricidaria 

 vidgaris ; in the provinces of Padova, Rovigo, and Ferrara, in 1901 

 to 1906. The two species have been confused by some European 

 botanists ; and the authors emphasise the differences between them, 

 showing that not only may they be distinguished by the sexual organs 

 as indicated by Strasburger in his monograph, but also by their vege- 

 tative characters when the plants are, as often happens, sterile. For 

 clearness, the differential characters are drawn up in parallel columns. 

 They are derived from the ramification, leaf, colour, hairs, and roots. 



Asplenium fontanum not an Italian Species.f — A. Goiran con- 

 demns as false the records of the occurrence of the rare fern Asple- 

 nium fontanum on Monte Baldo. He has repeatedly searched for the 

 plant from 1870 to 1903 in the places indicated, and failed to find 

 any trace of it. Long ago Pontedera and Segujer recorded and figured 

 a fern as growing in two spots on Monte Baldo. This was interpreted 

 by Pollini to be Aspidium Halleri W.. that is, Asplenium fontanum 

 Bernh. But, says Goiran, Pollini was wrong ; and the fern is without 

 doubt a form of the polymorphic Cystopteris fragilis Bernh. Pollini, 

 indeed, corrected his error a few years later by making Pontedera's 

 plant a synonym of C. fragilis ; but this correction escaped the eye of 

 Hausmann, who, in his " Flora von Tirol " repeated Polhni's original 

 error, as also did John Ball and other authors in their respective works. 

 A form of the plant has been found in the Euganean Hills, but neither 

 type nor form in the districts of Yicenza, Verona, or Trent. 



Bryophyta. 

 (By a. Gepp.) 



Growth Phenomena of Mosses.J — B. Nemec discusses the question 

 of the growth of some mosses as regards both direction and symmetry. 

 Mosses afford good material for the study of these subjects, being small 

 and plentiful ; and though it is difficult to produce in the laboratory 



• Bull. Soc. Bot. Ital., 1906, pp. 143-51. f Tom. cit., pp. 124-6. 



X Pringsheim's Jahrb. Wiss. Bot., xliii. (1906) pp. 501-79 (33 figs.). 



