490 RECORD OF SCIENCE FOR 1887 AND 1888. 



MOSSES. 



Of tbe larger systematic works Braithwait's " British Moss Flora" 

 has reached part X, completing volume i, and Eabeuhorst's " Cry])to- 

 gamen-Flora v. Deutschlaud u. s. w." has reached numbers 7 and 8, 

 being still occupied with the Acrocarpa. Both of these publications 

 still maintain the uniform high character of the earlier parts. Philibert 

 has a short paper (Rev. Bryol., xiv) on the fructification of Grimmia 

 Hartmanni, in which he concludes that it should be placed among the 

 true Grimmia and near to G. contorta Wahl, The same author has 

 also another i)aper (L c.) " Contrib. h la flore mycologique de la Grece. 

 Arcangeli (Atti Soc. Tosc, Nat., v) states that a useful character for 

 some species of moss '• can be drawn from the fact that in some forms 

 the nervation of the leaves ends in a small projecting point or tooth 

 and in addition to this presents another small tooth pointing downwards 

 below the opical tooth." Species of Bhyncostegium and Brachythecium 

 are enumerated. Several hybrid mosses are described by Sanio (Hed- 

 wigia, xxvi), and the "Anatomy and Development of the Sporostegium 

 of Mosses," by Yaizej" in Journ. Linn. Soc, Lond., xxiv. In the " Sphag- 

 naceaj of Korth America" (Bull. Soc. roy. de Bot. Belgique, xxv), 

 Cardot proposes some changes in our species. He admits sixteen 

 species and nine varieties as compared with twenty seven species in 

 Lesquereux and James' " Manual." "Die Eutwick.d. Sporogone v. An- 

 drese u. Sphagnum," by Waldner, is a valuable contribution to our 

 knowledge of the development of the sporogonium of these genera, and 

 the paper is further enriched by systematic notes by Miiller. Varia- 

 tions in /S^/ia^ynoce^t? are described by Jansen (Rev. Bryol, xiv). 



FERN-ALLIES. 



Baker's " Hand-book of the Fern-Allies " is by far the most valuable 

 contribution that has appeared during the year on the systematic study 

 of the related members of the Ptoridophy ta. It is similar in its method 

 of treatment to the author's well-known " Synopsis Filicum." It in- 

 cludes descriptions of 5G5 species, distributed at follows : Bqnisetacea', 

 20 species ; Lycopodiacea', 98 species ; distributed among Phylloglossvra, 

 1, Lycopodium, 94 ; Tmesipteris, 1 ; Psilotuni, 2 ; SeJaginellacew, 383 

 species, of which SeJaf/ineUa has 334, and Isoetes, 49; BMzocarpeiv, 64 

 species, distributed amowg Salvinia., 13; Azolla, 5; i¥ars?7i!ia, 40, and 

 Pilularia, 6. 



In t\\e Bqnicetacea' Buchtien has given a short paper (Uhlworm u. 

 Haenleiu Biblioth. Bot., yiii), in which he points out the difference be- 

 tween the male and female prothalli. " Some words on the life-history 

 of Lycopods" (Ann. Bot., i) by Trenb, is a suggestive paper. He has 

 studied the prothalli of four species before unknown, of which number 

 three belong to the Phlegmaria type, and one to the cermtum type. 

 The annotinum type, the third into which Lycopodium is divided, is still 



