1206 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. 



.. „ _ , ^ . . , , In reviewing the literature of this sub- 

 Dlxon, H. H. On the first mitosis of the spore- ° 



mother-cells of Lilium. Notes from the ject Prof. Dixon finds that, while there 



Botanical School of Trinity College, Dublin, j^ ^ ^j^g divergence of opinion in regard 

 No. 4, pp. 129-139, pis. 7-8, Jan., 1901. ° . ... 



to the phenomena involved in this 

 mitosis, there are, nevertheless, certain stages which are admitted and which 

 have been constantly observed. How these stages are derived from one another 

 is the most debated question. The writer figures and describes six well ascer- 

 tained stages and then proceeds into the debated territory. Nearly all observ- 

 ers describe a longitudinal splitting of the entire thread just previous to the seg- 

 mentation into chromosomes, but Prof. Dixon believes that the stage so con- 

 stantly observed arises from the looping on each other and approximation of two 

 portions of the thread. Several very suggestive objections are urged against the 

 commonly accepted interpretation. While believing that each of the two twisted 

 portions undergoes a longitudinal splitting while still in the spirem stage or imme- 

 diately after differentiation into chromosomes, regarded as a seco7id longitudinal 

 splitting by Guignard and others, the author believes that this is the first and 

 only longitudinal splitting. 



A series of very clear diagrams illustrates the writer's interpretation of the 

 composition of the chromosomes and their behavior during the later phases of 

 mitosis. According to this interpretation there is no differential or " reducing " 

 division during the first mitosis of the spore-mother-cell. c. j. c. 



Britton, Elizabeth 0., and Taylor, Alexandria. This is the first fairly complete account 

 Life History of Schizeapusilla Bull. Torrey ^f j^e life history of this interesting 

 Bot. Club, 28: 1-19, pis. 1-6, 1901. \ *» 



fern. The material was collected at 



Forked River, New Jersey, in July, 1900. Sections do not seem to have b?en 

 made except in the study of the root, stem and leaf. While the peculiar game- 

 tophyte and general aspect of the young sporophyte is shown more clearly with- 

 out sections, we cannot help feeling that the development of antheridia and arche- 

 gonia and also the very young sporophyte would have been more satisfactory if 

 the study had been made from microtome sections. 



A part of the description, which could hardly be abbreviated, reads as follows : 

 " The gametophyte is composed of numerous, erect, branching, dark green pro- 

 tonemal filaments ; monoecious, bearing 5-12 archegonia, usually on a slightly 

 thickened and expanded series of cells in the nature of an archegoniophore ( ? ) 

 or directly on the filaments ; antheridia more numerous, often on separate 

 branches and nearer the extremities of the filaments ; radicles seldom borne on 

 the filament, but produced from specially modified, large spherical cells, appar- 



