92 THE JOURNAL OF I30TANT 



The cliiet* value of the book, which is arranged alphabetically 

 under the Latin names, lies in its full and elaborate treatment of 

 plants of agricultural and economic value, such as the Maize, to the 

 investigations concerning which reference has already been made, 

 Examples of this treatment maj^ be found in the Onion, Parsnip, 

 Celery, Bean, and Tomato, among vegetables ; among fruits the lied 

 Currant, Strawberry, and Apple receive special attention ; in these 

 and other cases the principal cultivated varieties are enumerated and 

 described, especially those grown in the States. One is inclined to 

 think that the volume wovild have been more useful — it would cer- 

 tainly have been more convenient for reference — had its contents 

 been limited to plants such as these : references like those to the 

 species of Gt^ewia, which occupy a page, might, if included at all, 

 have been condensed into one paragraph : the footnote references to 

 books, each occupying a line, might have been compressed in like 

 manner with j^ositiv^e advantage to the consulter of the work. 



BOOK-NOTES, NEWS, etc. 



At the meeting of the Linnean Society on Jan. 19 Dr. A. B. 

 Rendle showed a piece of the wood of Orifes excelsa R. Br., a nativa 

 of northern New South Wales and Queenshiud, which is of unique 

 interest from the deposits of aluminium succinate which occur in cavi- 

 ties of the wood. Aluminium is very rarely found in flowering plants 

 and only in small traces ; but O. eccceJsa absorbs alumina from the 

 soil in large quantities, as shown by analysis of the ash. Occasionall}^ 

 the amount taken up is excessive, in which case the excess is de- 

 posited in cavities as a basic aluminium succinate. 



At the same meeting Dr. E. Marion Delf gave an account of 

 research on 3Iacroc//stis by Miss M. M. Michell and herself. After 

 descvibing the distribution of the alga, the authors reviewed recent 

 accounts of it, and showed lantern-slides in explanation. The fertile 

 fronds are completely submerged, smooth, dichotomousl}^ branched 

 and usually borne on special shoots ; they bear sori on both sides 

 of the frond. Exceptional cases were described of discontinuous sori 

 occurring in the grooves of fronds with wrinkled surface and borne on 

 the long' swimming shoots, and usually without a swim bladder at the 

 base. The zoospores do not appear to have been previously described. 

 Material brought from the shore in the morning, and examined in 

 the laboratory in the evening, showed swarming zoospores ; the next 

 morning swimming actively, and more slowly. Cultures were made 

 from the material in the following wa^^ : — About 2 hours after 

 gathering, the alga was placed in a covered glass dish, with a few 

 cover-slips at the bottom, and then sea-water was added. The piece 

 was removed the next day, and 10 days later all the zoospores had 

 come to rest, but showing no sign of germination. Five weeks after- 

 wards short filaments of two different sizes Avere observed, compai-able 

 with the male and female gameto])hytes in Laminariacese reported by 

 Sauvageau and Llovd Williams. Two months later young stages of 



