60 The Botanical Gazette. ' [February, 



. Douliot concludes after studying a number of plants belonging to 

 diverse families " that in the very large majority of Dicotyledons the 



term 



. others by two initial cells only, in which case one initial is common to 

 the bark and central cylinder. In the Monocotyledons the case of two 

 initial cells is more frequent. In the Gymnosperms the stem has a 

 single initial cell at its apex. The fact of having a single apical cell, 

 together with the presence of the archegonium, allies the Gymno- 

 sperms more closely with the Cryptogams, but the presence of an 

 independent epidermis, a common and exclusive character of both 

 I)i- and Monocotyledons, serves to connect these two groups with the 

 Gvmnosperms."— Cf. Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot., li, 283-350. 



Greenkria fuliginea, which causes the bitter rot of grapes, is not 

 to be confounded with Coniothyrium Diplodiella or Tubercularia 

 acinorum, according to the studies of F. Cavara (Atti Inst. bot. Univ. 

 di Pavia, ser. II, i, p. 359 ; abs. in Centralblatt f. Bak. u. Parasit, viii, 

 p. 810). Instead of belonging to the Sphasropsideae, it goes to the 

 Melanconieae and to Saccardo's section Phaeosporese. The genus 

 characters of Melanconium agree completely with those of Greeneria. 

 C. therefore proposes to place the fungus under that genus with the 

 following diagnosis : Melanconium fuligineum (Scribner & Vialai 

 Cavara. Acervulis sparsis griseo-cinereis, epidermide tectis, dein in 

 fissuris ellipticis erumpentibus ; comdiis continuis, ovoideis vel ellip- 

 soideis utrinque acutiusculis, dilute fuligineis, in muco atro immersis, 

 stromate parenchymatico conoideo, albido, suffultis, 7. 5-9 x 4^4-5 M- 



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Oscar Ebkrdt sets forth (Prings. Jahrb. fur wiss. Bot., x:~-, ,„, 

 his observations on the formation of starch grains, which differ from 

 the well known ones of Schimper on the function and destiny of the 

 leucoplasts. It would seem from his investigations that there is dif- 

 ferentiated from the plasma certain bodies of small size and of proteid- 

 hke material which he designates as « Stiirke-Grundsubstanz"— pro- 

 amyloid — because they act as the basis for the formation of the grain. 

 These are bordered or surrounded by a covering of plasma. The first 

 starch recognizable by the iodine test appears in the proamvloid which 

 diminishes as the grain and the plasma coat increases. The grain 

 presently enlarges sufficiently to break through the plasma coat which 

 then remains as a cap. The grain continues to grow as long as this cap 

 is present. After it is lost no more growth is possible. Grains so 

 form, I will be excentric Concentric grains are formed inside a 

 plasma coat which they do not rupture. Stratification does not appear 

 until the grain break:, or is freed from the plasma. It is, according to 

 Eberdt, only the plasma coat or cap which can properly be called the 

 starch former. The proamvloid is passive. Eberdt controverts the view 

 that the leucoplasts may be converted into chloroplasts under the 



influence of light. 



