and Laboratory Methods. 1535 



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. 



Dangeard, P. A. La reproduction sexuelle des The most interesting portion of this 

 Champignons. Etude critique Le Botaniste, • ,i . i ■ i j i -^i .1 



7: 89-130 igoo. paper is that which deals with the 



question of sexuaHty in Sph(zrotheca. 



Several botanists believe that in Sphmrotheca there is a fusion of the nucleus of 



the antheridium with that of the oosphere, and that this fusion is followed by a 



fusion of the two nuclei of the ascogonium cell. Prof. Dangeard claims that no 



nucleus passes from the antheridium into the oosphere, but that the antheridium 



cell with its nucleus soon disorganizes. He points out that in the stage of 



development in which the ascogonium contains two nuclei, the antheridium 



should not have any nucleus, if the theory of a fusion of o.^^ nucleus and 



antheridium nucleus is correct. According to his observations the antheridium, 



at this stage, still retains its nucleus. The author attempts, on other grounds, 



to disprove a repeated nuclear fusion in Spharotheca. c. j. c. 



Stephani, F. Species Hepaticarum. Bull, de This portion of the writer's work on 

 r Herbier Boissier, pp. 27i;-3t;3. Dec. i8qq tt ,• ^ • r n ^ 



and Apr. 1 900. < ^ ^^^ y^ Hepaticae contains a very full account 



of the genus Metzgeria, sixty-four 



species being described. Of these, two species are cosmopolitan, one belongs to 



northern forests, nine are native in tropical and sub-tropical Africa, eight in 



tropical Asia and Oceanica, twenty-nine in tropical America, and fifteen in 



antarctic regions. Another paper (Extrait des Memoires de 1' Herbier Boissier, 



pp. 1-46, 1900) contains a full account of Fossombronia, with descriptions of 



forty species. Several other genera are described in this paper. The writer 



believes that Fossombronia is the connecting link between the thallose and leafy 



liverworts. This paper, which completes Vol. I, Acrogyneae der " Species 



Hepaticarum," has an index of thirteen pages. c. j. c. 



Butters, F. K. A Preliminary List of Minne- Material from which this list is made 

 sota Xylariaceae. Minn. Bot. Studies, Sec- , , 1 ^- r rr. 



ond Ser. 3 : 563-567, 1901. has been accumulating for fifteen years. 



Specimens of all the forms listed have 

 been deposited in the herbarium of the University of Minnesota. The list con- 

 tains nineteen species distributed among five genera, as follows : Niimmidaria, 

 3; Ustilina, 1; ffypoxylofi, 12; Daldinia, 2; Xylaria, 1. The list is accom- 

 panied by notes. c. j. c. 



Hirn, Karl E. Monographie und Iconographie This is the most important work on the 

 der Oedogoniaceen. Acta Societatis scien- , , j ^ ^c t-u^ 



tiarum Pennies, 27: 1-394, pis. 1-64, 1900. morphology and taxonomy of the 



Oedogoniaceae which has yet appeared. 



The first forty-seven pages are devoted to structure and development. Special 



