2578 Journal of Applied Microscopy 



CURRENT BOTANICAL LITERATURE. 



CHARLES J. CHAMBERLAIN, University of Chicago. 



Books for Review and Separates of Papers on Botanical Subjects should be Sent to Charles J. 

 Chamberlain, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. 



Juel, H. 0. Ein Beitrag zui Entwickelungsge- Material of Casuarina sp. was collected 



schichte der Samenanlage von Casuarina. j^ Algeria in January, 1901, and a Col- 

 Flora. 92: 284-293, pi. 8, 1903. . ° • ■' 



lection of C. qiiadrivalvis was made at 



Naples in March of the same year. The ovaries were carefully removed and 

 fixed in the chromo-osmic-acetic mixture. The principal results are as follows : 

 Each of the embryo-sac mother-cells, by two successive divisions, gives rise to 

 four megaspores. The cells of the archesporium are distinguished by their larger 

 nuclei and denser contents. The first division in the megaspore mother-cell is 

 marked by the usual synapsis stage and a reduction in the number of chromo- 

 somes. The number of chromosomes at this division was not determined defi- 

 nitely, but was not less than 8 nor more than 12, while the number in sporo- 

 phytic cells was about twice as large. Bodies of kinoplasmic aspect appear at 

 or beyond the poles of the spindle during the mitoses which give rise to the four 

 megaspores, but these bodies are not to be regarded as centrospheres. They 

 resemble the dense areas which have been described in various Gymnosperms. 

 The later stages were not studied, but the writer remarks that in regard to 

 the development of the embryo-sac, the entrance of the pollen tube and the for- 

 mation of the embryo, he can only confirm the account of Treub. c. j. c. 



Grout, A. J. Mosses with a Hand Lens and The success of Prof. Grout's little book, 



Microscope, a non-technical hand-book of Mosses 7uith a Hand Lens, has led him 

 the more common mosses of the northeast- 1 i- 1 , it 1 



em United States. Part I, pp. 1-86, with to publish the present work. It makes 



10 plates and 35 text figures. Published by no pretensions to being a complete 



the author, 360 Lenox Road, Brooklyn, New , , , . . , , 



York City, 1^903. Price, |Si. manual, but, rather, is intended to 



attract and help students who would 

 otherwise never begin the study of mosses. While the specialist who studies 

 species critically needs something more extended and critical, even he may find 

 the book convenient for the ready determination of miscellaneous collections. 

 About one-half of Part I is occupied by the following subjects : The collection 

 and preservation of mosses, how to mount mosses, methods of manipulation, 

 life history and structure of the moss plant, and an illustrated glossary of bryo- 

 logical terms. 



Many of the elegant plates are taken from the " Bryologia Europea," some 

 from " Sullivant's Icones," while a goodly number are original. The descrip- 

 tions of families are rather full and are accompanied by numerous illustrations 

 of the characteristic features. The classification follows quite closely that in 

 Dixon and Jameson's " Handbook of British Mosses." 



Part I contains descriptions of Sphagnacese, Andreaecea;, Georgiaceae, Poly- 

 trichaceae, Buxbaumiaceae, Fissidentaceae and Dicranaceae. The book should 

 receive a hearty welcome from teachers and students. c. j. c. 



