Journal of Applied Microscopy. 443 



in these forms, may indicate relationship with the grasses. The embryo-sac of 

 composites shows a similar antipodal development, but if the single terminal 

 ovule of composites is primitive rather than secondary, the embryo-sac might also 

 show primitive characters. c. j. c. 



r ' M A c M u A- > TT-uTT . ^hc book is designed for those who 

 Going, Maud (E. m. Hardinge). Field, Forest ° 



and Wayside Flowers, with Chapters on have not tune or perhaps uiclination to 



Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns 8vo PP- XVI familiarize themselves with the techni- 



-j- 411, figs. 102. The Baker and Tavlor 



Company, 5 and 7 E. i6th St., New York, cal terms of botany. Some of the prin- 



1899, $1.50. cipal topics discussed, are : Crocuses, 



Dandelions, Flowering of Forest Trees, Green Leaves at Work, Roses, Lilies^ 

 Grasses, Rushes, Sedges, Night Flowers, Climbing Plants, Ferns, Thistles, and 

 Winter Woods. In spite of the fact that the book is for the untechnical, it seems 

 an unnecessary teaching of incorrect relationships to speak of grasses and sedges, 

 as in the title, as if they were not flowering plants, but a separate group like the 

 ferns. The language is simple and pleasing, and the subject matter interesting. 

 The half-tone illustrations taken from photographs are of unsurpassed excellence. 

 The book can be recommended to teachers of nature study in the schools as well 

 as to those for whom it was written. c. j. c. 



^. ^ , r. , M_ J T. J It has long been a matter of dispute 



Fischer, A. Untersuchungen uber den Bau der ° '■ 



Cyanophyceen u. Bakterien. Jena : G. whether the Cyanophyceae and Bacteria 

 Fisher, 8vo, M. T., 1897. h^^^e nuclei or not. Fischer had already 



written upon the subject, but the present account is the most important contribu- 

 tion which has appeared. He admits that Biitschli's central body cannot be 

 explained as contracted cell contents, as he had formerly claimed, but still insists 

 that there is no such sharp distinction between central body and " Rindenschicht " 

 as Biitschli's figures indicate. After many experiments in staining bodies of a 

 known chemical composition, Fischer comes to the conclusion that staining reac- 

 tions do not depend upon a chemical union between the stain and the tissue ele- 

 ments, but that the phenomenon is merely a physical one. He claims that 

 Butschli was mistaken in the assumption that digestion experiments support the 

 theory that the central body is a nucleus. The green rind of the cyanophyceous 

 cell is a genuine chromatophore, and can be isolated by reagents. While he was 

 not able to demonstrate a layer of protoplasm between the chromatophore and 

 the cell wall, he nevertheless believes that plasmolytic phenomena and the col- 

 lecting of granules along the cross walls indicate the presence of such a layer. 

 The ground mass of the central body is nothing but the principal part of the 

 protoplast which is surrounded by the chromatophore. This ground mass does 

 not take any part as an independent organ, either in cell division or in spore for- 

 mation, nor do the granules play any characteristic part during division. In 

 short, there is no nucleus or organ which resembles a nucleus in the Cyanophy- 

 ceae nor is the central body a phylogenetic forerunner of the nucleus. 



In the sulphur bacteria the central body was found only in forms which are 

 free from sulphur. There are granules in Chromatium zxid Beggiatoa which stain 

 red with hoematoxylin, but they cannot be called chromatin on such evidence. 

 There are no genuine nuclei in the sulphur bacteria. 



