398 Journal of Applied Microscopy. 



CURRENT BOTANICAL LITERATURE. 



Charles J. Chamberlain. 



Books for review and separates of papers on botanical subjects should be sent to 



Charles J. Chamberlain, University of Chicago, 



Chicago, 111. 



REVIEWS. 



Durand, E.J. A Washing Apparatus. Bot. Gaz. This seems to be the best of the many 



devices for washing material which has 

 been fixed in such sokitions as cliromic acid or Flemming's chromo-aceto-osmic 

 mixture. It consists of a tin box supported on legs, and provided with a cork 

 bottom (insect cork at least 1 cm. thick) through holes in which are passed glass 

 tubes, drawn out to a point at the lower end. The size described is 6.'25 cm. 

 deep, 8.75 cm. wide, and 29.5 cm. long. The sides and ends are turned in 

 5 mm., to support the cork bottom, which is further supported by four narrow 

 metal crosspieces. The tubes are 6.75 cm. long, with an inside diameter of 

 3 mm. A box of this size is large enough for eighteen tubes. Stretch a fine 

 meshed cloth over the mouth of the bottle, and keep it in place by a rubber band. 

 Force the pointed end of the tube through the cloth, and turn on water just 

 sufficient to cause a gentle circulation. c. j. c. 



Lind, K. Ueber das Eindringen von Pilzen in It has long been known that many algae, 

 Kalkgesteine und Knochen. Jahrb. f. wiss. ^ ■ Uchens, and bacteria are able to 

 Bot. 32: 603-604, 1898. ° 



penetrate into calcareous rocks and 



bone. Herr Lind, a dentist, has made a series of experiments, from which he 

 concludes that the penetration is due in great part to chemical irritation. He 

 used thin plates of marble, only one-fifth of a millimeter in thickness. When 

 the plate is moistened on one side Vv'ith a nutrient sokition, and spores are sown 

 on the other side, the mycelium penetrates the plate, but if both sides are moist- 

 ened or both sides kept dry, no penetration occurs. Plates of chalk and bone 

 were used with similar results. The corroding power, in many cases, is due to 

 carbonic and oxalic acid secreted by the plant. Decay of teeth is due to bacteria. 

 Particles of food clinging to the teeth give rise to acids which corrode the enamel, 

 and thus allow the bacteria an entrance, after which they further the decalcifying, 

 and finally, by their peptonizing power, destroy even the organic substance of the 

 teeth. As soon as the dentine is reached, the bacteria complete very rapidly the 

 work of destruction. 



The article contains a resume' of previous literature, and is illustrated by three 

 wood cuts. The work was done under Pfeffer, at Leipzig. c. j. c. 



Nemec, B. Ueber die karyokinetische Kern- In this account of the division of the 

 theilung in derWurzelspitze von Allium cepa. nucleus of A///u^;i CeJ>a, Nemec says 

 Jahrb. f. wiss. Bot. 33 : 313-336, pi. 3, 1899. -^ ■' 



that the achromatic spindle is not formed 



primarily as a multipolar affair and later becoming bipolar, as described for other 

 plants by Osterhout, Mottier, and others, but that it begins in the bipolar form. 

 Threads which appear just outside the nuclear membrane are soon seen to be 



