482 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



BOTANY. 



GENERAL, 



Including the Anatomy and Physiology of Seed Plants. 



Cytology, 

 Including- Cell-contents. 



Chondriome in Algas and Fungi.* — A. Guilliermond publishes the 

 third aud final paper dealing with his investigations as to the functions 

 of the mitochondrias. The author now states the general results and 

 conclusions of his work, which are as follows : — 1. Tlie existence of a 

 chondriome having been demonstrated in numerous and widely differing 

 groups of Fungi, it appears safe to conclude that it is found in all 

 Fungi. 2. In the Algas it has not been possible to discover a 

 chondriome in either the Conjugatefe or in the Confervacese, but it has 

 been proved that the unique chloroplasts which characterize these 

 gi'oups are not homologous with the chloroplasts of the Plianerogams, 

 but are rather to be regarded as highly differentiated mitochondria. In 

 the Florideaj and the Phfeophycete an ordinary chondriome is present, 

 but the chloroplasts are similar to those of higher plants. 3. The 

 chondriome is absent in the Cyanophyceas, where its functions appear to 

 belong to the nucleus. 4. The function of the chondriome has been 

 clearly proved in the Fungi ; the chondriocontes give rise to vesicles 

 which are absolutely analogous to those which in higher plants produce 

 starch, and it seems probable that in this case they have the power of 

 producing glycogen, fats, etc. 



The author concludes that the presence of the chondriome in so 

 large a number of and in such widely different types of plant and 

 animal cells proves it to be "a constituent element of a cell, 

 indispensable to its function and of the same order as the nucleus." 

 Like the nucleus it can only reproduce itself by division, but it lacks 

 the power of the latter to transmit its characters from one generation 

 to another. 



Structure and Development. 

 Vegetative. 



Anatomy of Crotalaria.f — A. Lacoste publishes a comparative 

 description of the anatomical characters of Crotalaria, and suggests a 

 new classification of this genus based upon its anatomy in place of the 



* Eev. Gen. Bot., xxvii. (1915) pp. 297-315 (1 pi. and 3 figs.). 

 + Rev. G6n. Bot., xxvii. (1915) pp. 10-21 (2 figs.). 



