BOTANY. 321 



TROGRESS m 1880. 



GENERAL. 



One of the important works published during- theyearis La Phytogra- 

 pJiie or the art of describing plants considered Irom different points of 

 \iew, by A. De Caiidolle. Besides the instructive considerations on 

 nomenclature and descriptions, there is given a listof principalherbaria 

 and the authentic collections which they contain. We must also mention 

 the Index perfectus ad Caroli Linnaei species Plantariim, nemi)e earum 

 primam editionem, by Baron F. von Mueller. A valuable new journal 

 has appeared during the year, the Botanisches Centralhlatt, edited by Dr. 

 Oscar Uhlworm, assisted by a number of specialists. It is issued weekly 

 by Theodor Fischer, Cassel, and has for its obj<'ct the ])resentation of 

 short reviews and notices of botanical works and society communica- 

 tions as soon as possible after their publication. The journal also in- 

 cludes a certain number of original communications. The number of 

 botanical textbooks which has appeared during theyearis rather large. 

 We would mention first, Botany for High Schools and Colleges, by Prof. 

 C. E. Bessey, which forms one of the American Science Series issued by 

 Henry Holt & Co. The book covers all the departments of botany, and 

 is copiously illustrated. xVn Historical Sketch of the Science of Botany 

 in yorth America from 1840-1858, by Frederick Brendel, is finished in 

 the American Xaturalist for 1880. Of the numerous European text- 

 books nu'ntiou should be made of N. J. C. Miiller's Handbueh derBofaniJc, 

 in two ^•olumes; Vamike^H Lehrbuch der aUgemeinen Botanilc ; Behrens's 

 Method- Lelirlfifefi der alhjem. Botauik, and Wurmiiig's Deii ahnindelige 

 BotanUc. 



VEtJETABLE ANATOMY AND PUYSIOLOtiY. 



The structui-e of sieve-cells has been treated in two papers by Jauc- 

 zewski, and by AVilhelm. The distribution of stomata on the subterran- 

 ean parts of plants has been studied by Ilohnfeldt, and the Am. Natural- 

 ist contains a paper by W. K. Higby, on the Microscopic Crystals con- 

 tained in Plants. On the subject of morphology of special plants, we 

 may n)ention A. F. W. Schimper's TJw Vegetative Organs of Prosopanche. 

 The Beitiiige zur Biologic contains a paper by Klein, on the struct-ure 

 of PingidcKla alpina, an insectivorous plant. In the Proc. Koyal Soc. 

 is a paper by Vines, on the Chemical Composition of Aleurone-grains. 

 The aleurone grains in Pceonia are completely soluble in water ; in some 

 other plants they are not. Aleurone grains are always surrounded by 

 an insoluble membrane wlych contributes to the formation of the net- 

 work which remains after the soluble parts have been removed. In a 

 paper on the Origin of Starch- grains, by Schimper, the writer expresses 

 views contrary to those formerly advanced by Naegeli, and he describes 

 8. 3Iis. 31 21 



