and Laboratory Methods. 1815 



CURRENT BOTANICAL LITERATURE. 



CHARLES J. CHAMBERLAIN, University of Chicago. 



Books for Review and Separates of Papers on Botanical Subjects should be Sent to Charles J. 

 Chamberlain, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. 



Nemec, B. Die Bedeutung der fibrillaren ^^ the protoplasm of plants there are 



Strukturen bei den Pflanzen. Biologisches various fibrillar structures. They ap- 



Centralblatt. 21 : 520-538,1001. 1 • n j • , in 



•> ^ -'-^ ' ^ pear chiefly during nuclear and cell 



division and disappear after division is completed. The best known of these 

 fibrillae are those which form the achromatic figure. Another kind of fibrillae was 

 figured and described by Dixon in 1896, but their significance was not deter- 

 mined. They take no part in nuclear or cell division. Such fibrillae are easily 

 demonstrated in the embryo-sac mother cells of lilies. 



Still another kind of fibrillae is described by the author. Typically, these 

 consist of an inner portion which does not stain, and a sheath which stains read- 

 ily. They extend from one " Hautschicht " to the other, often around the nucleus, 

 but sometimes entirely independent of it. In meristematic tissue they are 

 slightly developed or even entirely lacking, but are well developed in older cells 

 where the protoplasm is more movable. In Allium the fibrillae were found to be 

 most numerous in the region of the plasma bridges, but it must not be inferred 

 that there is necessarily a continuity from one cell to another. 



In the plerome cells of adventitious roots of Aspidhwi decusatiim the fibrillae 

 are easily seen in the living condition. They are best examined in a two per 

 cent, aqueous solution of grape sugar. 



These fibrillae constitute transitory, constantly changing paths which serve for 

 the conducting of stimuli. The principal reason for assigning this function is 

 that conduction is more rapid in the longitudinal direction, the direction of the 

 fibrillae, and is slow in cells where fibrillae are absent or slightly developed. 



c. J. c. 



Strasburger, Ed. Das kleine botanische Prac- This fourth edition of the Practicum, 

 ticum fur Anfanger. Vierte umgearbeitete like its predecessors, is remarkable for 

 Auflage. 8vo. pp. VIII -4- 251 with 128 ^, ... . . , . , , 



figures. Jena, Gustav Fischer, 1902. M7. the judicious manner in which the pre- 

 sentation of fundamental subject matter 

 is flavored with modern research. As before, there are thirty-two chapters and 

 the general method of treatment, which has proved suited to the practical needs 

 of the laboratory, has been retained. The contents, however, have been thor- 

 oughly revised and brought up to date. The revision has been particularly 

 thorough in the chapters on reproduction, bacteria, and nuclear and cell division. 

 The number of types has been somewhat reduced, on the ground that it is better 

 to study a smaller number of forms thoroughly than a larger number superficially. 

 Some new illustrations have been added. 



In this connection it may not be out of place to call attention to a book which 

 the ordinary reader might mistake for an English translation of Prof. Strasbur- 



