24 NOTICES OF BOOKS AND MEMOIRS. 



vegetative poiut are seen small foliar protuberances arranged on 

 the -f-^-r plan. At the radicular j)ole there is no differentiation, 

 neither can any hypophyse cell be formed ; and finally, to crown 

 the list of divergences from typical exogenous embryology, the 

 vegetative point, as we have already seen, developes from the side 

 instead of from the organic apex. From a study of germination 

 it is concluded that the youngest-formed leaf becomes an adven- 

 titious shoot, the next youngest the leaf-bearing "axis," if the term 

 may be allowed, the thml youngest the primary bladder, and all 

 the rest primary leaves. The author informs us that the Montana 

 group does not share in the above-mentioned eccentricities, and as 

 his paper concludes with a "Forts, folgt," we have long waited for 

 its continuance. As, however, our patience has not as yet been 

 rewarded, we think it advisable to make a note of the results already 

 attamed with this interesting genus. S. M. 



Kryptogamen-Flora von Schlesien herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. Fer- 

 dinand CoHN. Zweiter Band, Erste Hdlfte. Algen ; bearheitet 

 von Dr. Oskar Kirchner. Breslau, J. U. Kern's Verlag. 1878. 



The first volume of the second part of this excellent Crypto- 

 gamic Flora is given up to the AlgcE, the subject entrusted to Dr. 

 Oskar Kh'clmer. Alluding to the phycological exploration of the 

 province, Dr. Kirchner says : — " By far the greatest part of Silesia 

 is terra incognita/' Of the 1988 species of European fresh - water .-i/^« 

 cited by Rabenhorst in his Flora Enropcea Algarum, and 1656 of 

 Koch's Synopsis of the German and Swiss Flora, Dr. Ku'chner 

 states there have been found in Silesia 762, a considerable number 

 of the smaller genera being unrej)resented. It is therefore to be 

 hoped that this excellent treatise of Kh'chner's will incite a more 

 wide-spread exploration of the terra incognita. The following table 

 will show the relation of the Silesian to the German Flora in more 

 detail — 



Germany. Silesia. 



Florideae .... 17 ... 11 

 Fucacese .... 1 . . . 



Confervoide^ . . .181 . . . 86 

 Siphoned . . . . 15 . . . 6 



Protococcoideae . . .183 . . . 88 

 Conjugatae . . .391 . . .225 



Bacillariaceae . . . 375 . . . 195 

 Schizosporene . . . 525 . . .183 



In his scheme of the vertical distribution of the Silesian Algas, 

 the author divides the province into four regions — the plain 

 extending to an elevation of 150 metres, the hilly region from 150 

 to 500 metres, the mountainous region from 500 to 1100 

 metres, and the Alpine from 1100 to 1500 metres. Only 

 8 per cent, of the whole is to be found throughout the four 

 regions. From the Alpine region 101 species are recorded, of 

 which 16 are peculiar to it in the province ; from the mountainous 



