BOTANY. 49 1 



iinpeifectly known, Tliis gemis, as is well known, pliiyed 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 imi)ortant gen- 

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

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

 scribed (Bot, Zeitg., XLV) the protliallium of L. inuntlatum, contirmiug 

 l)revious observations that it belongs to the ceniuum type. 



The genus Isoefcs which is generally much neglected b^' botanists is 

 treated geographically by Underwood (I>ot. Gaz., xiii). It embraces 

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

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

 ica, six ; and JS^orth America, nineteen species, two of which are here 

 described as new. 



FERN«. 



About the usual annual amount of work seems to have been 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 Pringsheim and Stahl in 1876, but has only recently 

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

 given a long paper describing the germination of severallittle-known 

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

 same author has a i)aper, "Ueb, kiinstliche Vergriiudung d. Sporo- 

 phyll V. Onoclea Struthiopteris" (Ber. deutsch. Bot. Gesell.,,v) describ- 

 ing the conversion of fertile sporophylls of Oriodea into barren green 

 fronds. The development of the sporangium of the Polypodiacea' is 

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

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

 Camj)bell's paper "On the development of the Ostrich Fern Onoclea 

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

 pre{)ared ])aper on the histology anddevelojiment. 



Baker has given several descri])tive papers: "A further collection of 

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

 le(;tion of ferns from San Domingo" (Journ. liot., xxvi), in which several 

 new species are characterized. Beddome has a shortpaper enumerating 

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

 (/. c.) has described a single new species {PoJi/podium Annahelhv) from 

 New Guinea. J^ephroh-pis Hcvta is reported from the vicinity of Miami 

 River, Florida, 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 Osmiindiacew, Ophioglossacecv 



