BOOK->'(JTES, XEAVS, ETC. 101 



diseases. All the notes, wliieh are in Lvte's hand, were published by 

 Mr. Downes in Somerset and Dorset Notes <nid Queries tor 1917. 



On the same oceasion, Prof. J. J^loyd Williams, gave an account 

 of the Life-history of Ld miliaria and Chorda. He remarked that, np to 

 a few years ago, Botany students were tauglit that the Laminariaecje, 

 though they exhibit the highest advance in their external morphology 

 and internal structure, possessed no method of sexual reproduction, 

 but propagated themselves by means of asexual zoospores ; and conse- 

 quently they had to be classed, not with the higher, oogamous members 

 of the Ph?eophycea3, but with the lower Phieozoosporete. The recent dis- 

 covery of the development from germinating zoospores of two kinds of 

 gametophytes, producing respectivel}^ ^ggs ^^^tl antherozoids, compels 

 us to revise our ideas respecting the group and its systematic position. 

 The author, after describing in detail the structure of the zoospore, 

 its behaviour in germination, and the cytology of the processes, stated 

 that cultures of Laminaria three weeks old, and of Clwrda, three or 

 four months old, almost invariably showed the presence of two kinds 

 of multicellular germlings, one kind large-celled, the other consisting 

 of cells many times smaller. Sauvageau, by observing the develop- 

 ment in his culture of abnormal sporangia of Saccorhiza. was able to 

 prove that both kinds of germlings were produced from zoospores in 

 the same spoi'angium. All attempts at carrying the discovery further 

 by observing the actual liberation of the sexual cells failed until two 

 years ago, when the author witnessed the discharge of antherozoids 

 and the process of fertilization. The process of dehiscence of the 

 oogonhim and the liberation of the eggs were explained in detail, and 

 the difference between the behaviour of the inner wall in Laminaria 

 and Chorda explained. 



The Annals of JBotanj/ (April) contains papers on "The Leaf- 

 skin Theory of the Stem," by Edith R. Saunders ; " On the Absorp- 

 tion of Ions by the Roots of Living Plants," by Gladys M. Kedfern ; 

 "On Hybridization of some Species of /SV///>," by S. Ikeno ; ''The 

 Fungus present in Fell in epiphyUa Oorda," by W. F. F. Kidlei- ; 

 " The South-east African Flora, its origin, migrations and evolutionary 

 tendencies," by J. W. Bews ; two papers on *' Growth Studies," by 

 J. H. Priestley, A. F. C. H. Evershed, and W. H. Pearsall ; ''Studies 

 on Intrafascicular Cambium in Monocotyledons," b}- Agnes Arber ; 

 " The Germination and Growth of Fungi at various temperatures," 

 by William Brown. 



The first number of the Report of the Welsh Plant-breeding 

 Station, University College of Whales, Aberystwyth, is devoted to 

 preliminary investigations with herbage plants. The results brought 

 together are the outcome of three j^ears' preliminary work, and have 

 been obtained chieily from field and garden trials, many of which 

 have a direct practical bearing on grassland husbandry. The con- 

 tents are concerned with the incidence of fungus diseases, problems 

 connected with the fertilisation of grasses and clovers, the seasonal 

 productivity of the herbage plants in general use, and other matters. 



T>- the Zeitschriftfilr Bofanil\ xiv. Heft ^ (1022), F. Rawitscher 

 publishes the second part of his " Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Ustila- 



