18971 MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 201 



of four coils, to which are attached a larg-e number of cilia; 

 but the swarming- motion was not actually detached. The 

 nucleus is surrounded by cyptoplasm. They are found 

 in pairs in the extremity of the pollen-tube, and result 

 from the bi-partition of the g^enative nucleus. Professor 

 Ikeno states that the structure of the male and female 

 org-ans in Ginkgfo biloba and Cyeas revoluta at the time of 

 impreg-nation diifers from that observed in any other 

 Gymnosperm in this respect; that while, in the latter, the 

 - pollen-tube penetrates deeply into the archeg^one, in the 

 two species under discusion it never reaches the arche- 

 g^one itself, but remains, at the time of impreg-nation, at 

 some considerable distance from it. It would therefore 

 be impossible for the pollen-tube-nuclei to impregfnate the 

 oosphere without being- previously transformed into motile 

 antherozoids. Fertilization is then rendered possible by 

 the copious excretion of a watery fluid by the archeg"one 

 at the time of impreg-nation. Further details of this most 

 interesting- discovery are promised. 



The Wild Nettle is known to contain a remarkable 

 number of useful qualities. The leaf is edible, and the 

 liquid to be obtained from the stalk makes an excellent 

 beverag-e. The fibre of the stalk may, under treatment, 

 produce an excellent silk. For ag-es the plant has been 

 used for this purpose in China, where it g-rows to a heig-ht 

 of seven or eig-ht feet. Only recently, however, has the 

 machinery necessary to make the manufacture of this silk 

 a profitable industry been produced. A machine called 

 the decorticator has been invented, by means of which the 

 fibre is stripped off in enormous quantities at a terific 

 speed. Ramie is the eastern name of the plant. — The 

 Counsellor. 



The Foot of the House Fly. — I have succeeded in 

 mounting- a specimen of the fly's foot with the pulvilli and 

 tennent hairs stained, and showing-, adhering- to the ends 

 of the hairs, the viscid g-lobules by means of which the 

 insect is enabled to attach itself to smooth surfaces. I 

 have a fly's foot so mounted and stained with fuchsin, 



