ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 567 



parenchymatous strand to the final stage of disintegration — an open 

 canal. Starting from the middle cortex it bifurcates, forming two 

 branches situated on each side of the foliar bundle. He then describes 

 the investigations made by himself and others upon the presence of a 

 parichnos in recent plants — Isoetes and Lycopodiwn — -and shows it& 

 identity with that of fossil plants. The parichnos of recent plants is 

 primarily concerned in the production of mucilage. In fossil plants it 

 has been held to represent a glandular tissue, a gum-canal, a transpira- 

 tory or respiratory organ, comparable to the function of lenticels. It is 

 possible that its function was at first secretory, and subsequently, after 

 the leaves had been shed, it became respiratory. 



Lepidodendron obovatum.* — D. H. Scott describes a specimen of 

 this fossil plant obtained from the Lower Coal-measures at Towneley, 

 which presents the rare feature of permitting its anatomical structure 

 to be investigated, while by its external characters it allows its specific 

 identification to be established. But for its superficial characters, it 

 would, from its anatomy, have been placed in Lepklophloios, its stem 

 structm-e being in close agreement with that of L. fuliginosus. Identi- 

 fications of Lepidophloios, based solely on anatomical features, are, 

 therefore, open to suspicion. 



Megaspore of Lepidostrobus.f — R. Scott describes and figures 

 instances of a curious structure, forty examples of which she observed 

 when revising 1500 slides of fossil plants from the Coal-measures. It 

 has the appearance of a crumpled megaspore, with an appendage attached 

 to it. Similar structures were found in 25 out of 36 slides of Lepido- 

 strobus foliaceus ; and finally, a good instance of it in Williamson's type 

 cone of that species. That cone had previously been regarded as purely 

 microsporangiate ; it is now shown to be heterosporous. 



Christensen, C. — Index Filicum. (Index of Ferns.) 



[Continuation of the alphabetical enumeration of species and synonyms 

 from Polystichum aculeatum to Tricliomanes gibberosum.] 



Copenhagen : Hagerup, 1906, fasc. x., pp. 577-640. 



Bryophyta. 

 (By A. Gepp.) 



Classification of Mosses.! — V. F. Brotherus, in parts 224 and 22$ 

 of Engler and Prantl's " Die natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien," treats of 

 the moss-families Spiridentaceae, Lepyrodontaceae, Pleurophascaceae 

 (represented by a single genus containing only one species, which is 

 confined to the western mountains of Tasmania), and Neckeraceas. The 

 latter family is sub-divided into ten sections, rich in genera and species. 

 The narrative breaks off in Lembophyllaceae. 



New British Mosses.§ — L. J. Cocks gives an account of a moss 

 found by him on Ben Lawers on July 15, 1902, and referred by him to 



* Ann. of Bot., xx. (1906) pp. 317-19. 

 t New Phytologist, v. (1906) pp. 116-19 (plate and figs.). 

 j Leipzig : Engelmann, 1906, pp. 769-864 (58 figs.). 

 § Journ. of Bot., xlv. (1906) p. 242. 



