PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 295 
Starch in Granules of Chlorophyll.—According to a contemporary, 
Bohm asserts that if light is sufficiently intense to induce assimilation 
in green leaves, it has the power to cause an immediate transfer of 
starch from the stem, where elaborated matters may be stored, to the 
chlorophyll granules. For this reason he believes that many observa- 
tions hitherto made in regard to the immediate production of starch 
from carbonic dioxide in chlorophyll are untrustworthy. Such experi- 
ments should be made upon plants which have no starch already stored 
up, or upon detached leaves which contain no starch. 
Reproduction in the Ascomycetes Fungi.—A paper on this subject has 
been contributed by M. Maxima Cornu to the ‘ Annales des Sciences’ 
(1876, page 53), and it is given in lengthy abstract in a recent 
number of the ‘Journal of Botany.’ It states that the term “ sper- 
matia” has hitherto been applied to conidia-like bodies collected in 
special cavities, and thought to be incapable of germination. Tulasne 
had in some instances observed germination of bodies similar to sper- 
matia, but where budding did not result, instead of doubting the 
perfection of his cultural methods, he believed he had to do with 
sexual elements, and to these he applied the special term. By adopt- 
ing a system of culture somewhat similar to that made use of by 
Van Tieghem and Le Monnier in their researches on Mucorini, 
M. Cornu has succeeded in causing germination of many spermatia. 
The most satisfactory results were obtained when the nutritive liquid 
consisted of distilled water with 1 per cent. of sugar and 0-4 per cent. 
of tannin, though in a few instances simple water was the most ad- 
vantageous medium of growth. With these results in hand, M. Cornu 
thinks it permissible to suppose that all spermatia are capable of 
germination if a suitable liquid can be found for each case ; it becomes 
necessary, therefore, to consider the relations of spermatia to the 
similar reproductive bodies known as stylospores and conidia. Their 
main point of difference from stylospores resides in the fact that the 
membrane of the latter is usually double, while, unlike conidia, 
spermatia are collected in special cavities. MM. Cornu thinks that 
terminology is here too exuberant, and he proposes the elimination 
of the term “ conidium,” referring thick-membraned conidia to a 
place among stylospores, and thin-membraned to spermatia. He also, 
following out Bonorden’s suggestions, expresses his belief that certain 
Mucedines—e. g. Verticillium, Acrostalagmus, Dendrochium, &c.—are 
spermatia-bearing forms of Ascomycetous genera near Hypomyces ; 
other Mucedines he would refer to Peronosporeee and Mucorini. With 
regard to the function of spermatia, M. Cornu shows that, being very 
small and produced in great numbers, they are capable of causing 
wide diffusion of the species, the difficulty of germination being an 
additional advantage in diffusion, since the chances are considerable 
that before they reach a suitable nidus some time must elapse, during 
which they may be transported by the agency of winds, birds, &e. 
The Lymphatics of the Joints.—Dr. Stirling states in the ‘ Medical 
Record’ that Herr H. Tilimanns contributes an essay on this subject 
to the ‘ Archiv. fiir Mikros. Anat.’ (Band xii.) It would seem that 
