82 



NATURE 



[March 17, 1910 



I'anjal and Zanskar systems, occupy, as it were, ellipsoid 

 basins or lon^j troughs in the granite, and crushed up 

 against it. Lines of drainage often follow the line of 

 junction, breaking through the basal granitoid rock at 

 certain points. We find a very instructive section on the 

 Panmah Glacier, further west, which has cut its way down 

 through the main granite axis, having here a breadth of 

 ten miles or so. Further up the glacier, at Drenmung, 

 where it bends round to the north-west, this main source, 

 the Nobundi Sobundi Glacier, lies parallel to the line of the 

 main water parting between the Indus drainage and the 

 Oprang \'alley. The broad river of ice is bounded on 

 the south-west by the granite, on the north-east by a 

 great series of stratified rocks forming the elevated main 

 range for many miles and dipping to the northward. The 

 breadth of granite continues thence for fifteen miles south- 

 east, and then another twenty-five miles east towar<fs 

 Ousherbruni, and comes in, in the Baltoro Valley, forming 

 the wonderful spurs and peaks of its northern side. 

 Across the breadth of the glacier, moraine after moraine, 

 for some three miles, the precipitous southern flank of the 

 Masherbrum Ridge rises, all of stratified rocks, and Gusher- 

 brum, at the eastern end, appeared to be of the same series, 

 but closer to their junction with the granite, and vertical. 



At Gusherbrum, K6 and K, a slight change in the strike 

 of the whole mountain mass takes place. The head of the 

 Terim Glacier, according to Dr. LongstafT, extends up to 

 Gusherbrum, and he has proved that this glacier is the 

 head of Ryall's Saichar Glacier, which, so far as it is 

 shown on the atlas sheet, has a direction N.W.- to S.E., 

 the line of valley trough being continued eastward in 

 the Nubra to the junction of that river with the Shayok. 

 There seems a probability, arising from the interesting fact 

 mentioned by Dr. Neve of granite rocks on the south 

 of the Terim Glacier, stratified rocks on the north, that the 

 forrner correspond to those north of the Baltoro Valley, 

 and that the stratified series from near Gusherbrum con- 

 tinues east and forms the water parting between the 

 Oprang Valley and the Terim Glacier. If such be the case 

 we have a continuous strike of granite along the Nubra 

 River to Changlung, vide Lydekker's map, Memoirs of the 

 Geological Survey, vol. xxii., thence to the Marse mik La, 

 which I know, to Nyak Tso of the Pangkong, and so on 

 towards the Aling Kangri range, leading into Dr. Sven 

 Hedin's Trans-Himalaya. 



To return to the Masherbrum ridge, this finds its 

 counterpart further west, and is represented by those re- 

 markable sharp-pointed peaks. No. ii, Bi6, and B15, on 

 the east side of the Biafo Glacier. This great glacier and 

 the Hisper, indicating the position of this Mustakh axis as 

 far as Hunza Nagayr, is truly one of the most striking 

 physical features to be met with in the Himalayan chain. 



H. H. Godwin- Austen. 



BOHAmCAL PAPERS FROM CAMBRIDGE.^ 



"T^HE six papers referred to below are the work of 

 -members of the vigorous school of botany (including 

 palaeobotany) which now flourishes at Cambridge. 



(i) Miss Stephens's investigation, begun in the botanical 

 laboratory of the South African College at the suggestion 

 of Prof. Pearson, is of considerable importance. The 

 Penaeaceae are a small order of heath-like shrubs, allied to 

 the Daphne family, and limited to the south-western region 

 of Cape Colony. Out of the five genera, three, represented 

 by six species, have been examined, and have all been 

 found to agree in the essential points. 



The ovary has four carpels and four loculi, each of 



^ (t) The Kmbrvo-sac and Embryo of certain Pensescese. By E. L. 

 Stephens. {Annals 0/ Botany, vol. xxiii., pp. 363-78; pi. xxv. and xxvi., 

 July, 1009.) 



<2) The Anatomyof Saxegothaea conspicua, Lindl. By W. Stiles. (Nenv 

 PhytologUt, vol. vii., pp. 209-22 ; fies. 28-:!4, November, iqo8.) 



(?■) Notes on the Anatomy of D won edule, LinHI. By F. W. South and 

 R. H. Comptnn. {Ibid., pp. 222-29 ! fi?"- 35-4o, November, 1908.) 



(4) On a Cone of Calamosfachys Binneyana. Carruthers, attached to a 

 Leafy Shoot. By H. Ham«haw Thomas, (rbid., vol. viii., pp. 2^9-60 ; 

 pi. 1. and fies. 31, 32, July, 1909.) 



(■^) The Morpholoey and Anatomy of Utriculariahrachiata, Oliver. By 

 ^•2r- Compton. (Ibid., pp. 117-30; fips. 6-12, April, 1900.') • 



(6) On an Abnormal Gynaiceum in Stachys sylvatica, Linn. By A. W. 

 Bartlett. (,lbid., pp. 138-42 ; figc. 16. 17, April, 1909.) 



NO. 2107, VOL. 83] 



which contains from two to four anatropous ovules with 

 two integuments. ' The embryo-sac is derived directly, 

 without- intermediate cell-formation, from its mother cell ; 

 hence the reduction-division takes place in the nucleus of 

 the embryo-sac. Four nuclei are first formed, and then 

 each of these divides into two. The four pairs of nuclei 

 are usually found lying cross-wise, one pair at each end 

 of the sac and the other two at the sides. Each pair then 

 divides again ; four free nuclei, one from each group, fuse 

 to form the primary endosperm-nucleus, while the three 

 remaining cells in the four groups assume more or less 

 the arrangement and appearance of an egg-apparatus. 

 Thus the mature embryo-sac normally contains four peri- 

 pheral groups of cells, each group resembling an egg- 

 apparatus, and four nuclei in the middle, fusing to form 

 the endosperm-nucleus ; occasional variations from the pre- 

 vailing arrangement were . observed. Usually it is the 

 ovum belonging to the group nearest the micropyle which 

 is fertilised. In the case of this apical group fertilisation 

 has been repeatedly observed ; there is no evidence 

 that parthenogenesis occurs. The interesting question 

 whether the quadruple endosperm nucleus is fertilised, as 

 in typical angiosperms, by one of the male nuclei, has not 

 yet been determined. The embryo is remarkable for the 

 absence of a suspensor, the small development of the 

 cotyledons in comparison with the bulky hypocotyl, and 

 the absence of a root-cap up to the time when the seed is 

 ripe. 



The significance of the peculiar type of embryo-sac in 

 this order (only paralleled, as yet, by a species of 

 Euphorbia) is fully discussed. The interest of the ques- 

 tion is enhanced by the consideration that the Penaeaceae 

 appear to be a dying-out family, as suggested by their 

 limited distribution, the non-germination of the seeds in 

 culture, and the extreme rarity of seedlings in nature. 

 The author sums up her conclusions as follows : — " This 

 embryo-sac is probably to be regarded as a derived form, 

 with all four megaspores included in its development, rather 

 than as a primitive one. ..." "It is suggested that in 

 either case its endosperm is formed, like that of 

 ^^'elvJitschia, by a fusion of potential gametes, all the 

 nuclei in the sac being looked upon as potential or reduced 

 gametes." 



(2) The genus Saxegothaea is represented by a single 

 species, a small, yew-like tree growing in wet woods on 

 the upper slopes of the Chilian Andes. Mr. Stiles has 

 made a detailed investigation of the anatomy of both 

 vegetative and reproductive organs, and confirms the posi- 

 tion usually assigned to the genus as a member of the 

 Podocarpeae, a tribe of taxoid conifers. At the same time, 

 he finds many points in common between Saxegothaea and 

 the Araucarieae. He unnecessarily weakens his case by 

 the statement that " Saxegothaea differs from the 

 Araucarieae in having the ovule inverted" (p. 218); the 

 ovule is, of course, inverted in both groups alike. 



The author concludes : — " Thus it would seem probable, 

 as Lindley said in his first description of the plant [1851], 

 that Saxegothaea is a transition of a remarkable kind 

 between the Pinaceze and the Taxaceae." The conclusion 

 is interesting, as it supports the view that the Coniferales 

 are essentially a monophyletic stock. 



(3) The authors, Messrs. South and Compton, were so 

 fortunate as to "have at their disposal a plant of the 

 Mexican cycad, Dioon edule, no less than 120 years old; 

 it had spent thirty years of its life in the Botanic Garden 

 at Manchester. In so old a plant — 65 cm. in height and 

 80 cm. in girth — the narrowness of the vascular zone was 

 remarkable ; it was only 5 cm. in thickness, one-fifteenth 

 of the radius of the stem ; this poor development of the 

 conducting system is accounted for by the small number 

 of leaves functional at one time, the slow rate of growth, 

 and the xerophilous habit. The structure of the stem is 

 normal as in Stangeria, showing none of the vascular 

 anomalies characteristic of some other cycadaceous genera. 

 Within the stem two dome-like systems of internal strands, 

 running out into the withered peduncles of bygone cones, 

 were observed. The authors accept Count Solms- 

 Laubach's interpretation that the growth of the stem is 

 sympodial ; each cone terminates the main axis, while the 

 stem is continued by one of a pair of opposite buds. The 

 presence of two such buds (one being abortive) is a new 



