1907] CURRENT LITERATURE 291 
A birch rope.—D. P. PENHALLOW has described?° a remarkable growth 
occurring upon a specimen of Betula populifolia found in the New Brunswick 
woods. It is a rope-like structure, reported to have been at least twenty feet long 
and approximately 1Xo0.4°™ in diameter, and hanging free. The anatomical 
eraty showed that the growth had its origin in a lesion of the living bark. The 
traumatic reaction, instead of becoming localized and forming wood or sclerotic 
tissue, continued its development as active parenchyma and forced its way through 
the overlying and external tissue of the periderm. The form of the outgrowth 
suggests that it emerged through a lenticel. The outgrowth may be regarded asa 
special form of tumor, which developed by simultaneous division throughout its 
entire length and completed its growth in one season. The formation of cork 
proceeded over the entire surface until the final exhaustion of the parenchyma.— 
Homology of the blepharoplast.—IKENO?! replies to those who have ques- 
tioned the correctness of the conclusion set forth in his paper on spermatogenesis 
in Marchantia polymorpha, and reasserts his belief that the blepharoplast is a 
centrosome. He admits, however, that the centrosome may be absent during 
the development of spermatogenous tissues in the higher liverworts, and may 
appear only as the blepharoplast. He thinks that the bodies now called bleph- 
aroplasts may not be homologous structures, and suggests three categories: (1) 
centrosome-blepharoplasts, which are either ontogenetically or phylogenetically of 
centrosome origin; here belong the blepharoplasts of myxomycetes, liverworts, 
pteridophytes, and gymnosperms; (2) plasmodermal blepharoplasts, as in Chara 
and some Chlorophyceae; and (3) nuclear blepharoplasts, as in some genera of 
flagellates —CHARLES J. CHAMBERLAI 
The dwarf males of Oedogoniaceae.—A reinvestigation of this subject has 
brought PascHER?? to conclusions somewhat different from the commonly 
accepted views. The egg is regarded as a modified zoospore, the clear receptive 
spot corresponding to the hyaline ciliated area of the zoospore. The andro- 
zoospore (androspore of PRINGSHEIM) represents an intermediate development 
between the zoospore and spermatozoid. Accordingly the gynandrous and the 
macrandrous-dioecious forms of the Oedogoniaceae have advanced farther along 
the line of sexual differentiation than have the forms with dwarf males. The 
dwarf males of the Oedogoniaceae are homologous with the dwarf ee of 
the Chaetophoraceae and show more relationship with forms like Chaetophora 
than with forms like Ulothrix—CHaArLEs J. CHAMBERLAIN. 
20 PENHALLOW, D. P., A birch rope; an account of a remarkable tumor growing 
upon the white birch. Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada II. 12:239-255. jigs. 9. 1906. 
21 IkENO, S., Sur Frage nach der Homologie der Blepharoplasten. Flora 96: 
— 1906. 
22 PascHER, ADOLF, Ueber die Zwergmannchen der Oedogoniaceen. Hedwigia 
46: 265-278. 1907. 
