ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 631 



adopted is largely that of Schiffner in Engler's Pflanzenfamilien. The 

 descriptions have all been written on a fixed plan, and present a uni- 

 formity of treatment, the more important characters being emphasized 

 by the use of italics ; and ample critical notes on alfinities, distribution, 

 etc., are appended to the descriptions. Simplified keys to the genera 

 and species are provided. The illustrations, of which there is one for 

 each species, are intercalated in the text, and are reproductions of 

 drawings prepared for the purpose by H. G. Jameson. They show for 

 each species the habit, leaf-shape, areolation, and other distinctive 

 characters. 



Antarctic Mosses.* — J. Cardot gives an account of the mosses of 

 the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902-4). The majority 

 (21) of the species were collected on Gough Island (or Diego Alvarez), 

 the moss-flora of which was quite unknown. On Laurie Island, in the 

 South Orkneys, 10 species were found, and 6 on Ascension Island. 

 Laurie Island is in the Antarctic region, and its moss-flora is now known 

 to comprise 24 species. Of the Gough Island species, 12 are new to 

 science. And the structure of these and of 3 new species from Ascension 

 is described and fisrured. 



^b' 



Mosses of New Guinea. f — M. Fleischer reports on the mosses col- 

 lected by L. S. A. M. von Komer daring the second Lorentz Expedition 

 to Dutch New Guinea, whence barely any mosses had previously been 

 made known. He enumerates o4 species, arranged in 28 genera ; and 

 he gives diagnoses of 11 species new to science, adding ample and 

 artistic figures of their structure. He also shows that 8 other species 

 are recorded for New Guinea for the first time. An introduction, 

 critical notes, synonymy, and bibliographical references are among the 

 taxonomic features of the report. 



Thallophyta. 

 Alg-ae. 



(By Mrs. E. S. Gepp.) 



Euglena gracilis.^ — C. Ternetz gives an account of the morphology 

 and phjsiologj of Euglena gracilis Klehs. 1. E. gracilis maj a])'pea.T in 

 four different forms : (a) the normal green form, {b) the hyaline dark 

 form, (c) the intermediate form, and (d) the hyaline light form. 2. The 

 normal green form can be cultivated purely inorganically, but under 

 these conditions reproduces itself very slowly. It flourishes much better 

 in organic nutritive solutious. 3. The number of the chloroplasts is 

 subject to great variations, from l-;^0 per cell according to circum- 

 stances. 4. The increase of the individuals is relatively greatest at the 

 beginning of a culture. The maximum speed is about 1| divisions in 

 twenty-four hours. 5. The green Euglena can be cultivated as long as 



* Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh, xlviii. (1911) pp. 67-82 (3 pis.). See also 

 Scottish Nat. Antarct. Exped., iii. Botany (1912) pp. 55-69 (3 pis.). 



t Nova Guinea, Res. Exped. Sci. N6erlandaise. Leiden, Brill, viii. (1912) pp. 

 785-53 (6 pis.). 



1 Pringsheim's Jahrb., li. (1912) pp. 435-514 (1 pi.). 



