BOTANY. 491 



imperfectly known. Tliis genus, as is well known, played an important 

 part in past geological time, and the modern forms are seemingly but 

 poor representations, but as Treub suggests, it is more than probable 

 that when the life-history of each form is made out some important gen- 

 eralizations in connection with what is known of the fossil form will be 

 possible. Goebel is also working in similar lines and hns recently de- 

 scribed (Bot. Zeitg., XLV) the prothallium of L. imuulatiim, confirming 

 previous observations that it belongs to the cernuum type. 



The genus Jsocfes which is generally much neglected by botanists is 

 treated geographically by Underwood (Bot. Gaz., xiii). It embraces 

 fifty-three well-marked species of world-wide distribution. Europe has 

 thirteen species -, Africa, ten ; Asia, six ; Australia, eight ; South Amer- 

 ica, six ; and North America, nineteen species, two of which are here 

 described as new. 



FERNS. 



About the usual annual amount of work seems to have beeu done on 

 the ferns without, however, producing anything of particular moment. 

 Bower (Trans. Linn. Soc, Lond., 2d ser., ii) has described and dis- 

 cussed at considerable length the discovery of apospory in ferns. This 

 phenomenon, which is simply a transition by direct vegetative process, 

 and without the assistance of spores, from the sporophore to the oophore, 

 was first defined by Priugsheim and Stahl in 187G, but has only recently 

 been detected in ferns. Goebel (Ann. Jard. Bot., Buitenzorg, vii) , has 

 given a long paper describing the germination of several little-known 

 species, among them Vittaria, Trichomanes, and liymenophijUum. The 

 same author has a paper, " Ueb. kiinstliche Vergriindung d. Sporo- 

 phyll V. OnocleaStruthiopteris" (Ber. deutsch. Bot. Gesell.,iV) describ- 

 ing the conversion of fertile sporophylls of Onodea into barren green 

 fronds. The development of the sporangium of the Polypodiaceae is 

 described by Kiindig (Hedwigia, xxviii), and the " Dehisence of the 

 Sporangium of Adiautum pedatum," by Miss Lyon (Torr. Bull., xiv). 

 Campbell's paper "On the development of the Ostrich Fern Ouoclea 

 Struthioptoris" (Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., iv) is a very carefully 

 prepared paper on the histology and development. 



Baker has given several descriptive papers : "A further collection of 

 ferns from West Borneo." (Journ. Linn. Soc, Lond., xxiv); '• On a col- 

 lection of fernsfrom San Domingo" (Journ. Bot., xxvi), in which several 

 new species are characterized. Beddome has a short paper enumerating 

 a collection made in Perak and Penang (Journ. Bot., xxvi), and Forbes, 

 (/. c.) has described a single new species {Polypodium Annabella') from 

 New Guinea. Nephrohpifi acuta is reported from the vicinity of Miami 

 Eiver, Fh'rida, by Holden (Torr. Bull., xiv). Rabenhorst's " Kryp- 

 togamen Flora v. Deutschland u. s. w." has reached parts 8 to 10 of 

 the vascular cryptogams. It completes the Polypodiacea' and includes 

 descriptions of the German species of Osmund iacew, Ophioglossacew 



