130 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. [ May, 
club, to be divided into two sections possibly, or to have independent 
organizations for the higher and lower plants, must be determined. T e 
_ lack of a suitable printed check list of thallophytes for use in marking 
__ desiderata ivan obstacle to be surmounted. The meeting at Cleveland 
a. twill give a good opportunity for arranging details and perfecting an or- 
ganization, especially if there has been discussion through the journals 
in the mean time. 
ds 
THE process of imbedding in paraffin seems heretofore to have been 
R47 100 on as only suitable for tissues of considerable resistance. In 
both editions of Strasburger’s Botanisches Practicum occurs the phrase “ fiir 
etwas hiirtere und bedeutend hirtere Objecte empfehlen sich ....und Par- 
__ affin.” As the last edition was issued in 1887, it is not surprising, therefore, 
+ that the Botanisches Centralblatt published in June of 1887 an articie by Dr. 
+ Schénland, of Oxford, giving details of a process for imbedding delicate — 
objects in paraffin, for there does not seem to have been any record of 
_ Success in this direction previously. We have been informed, however 
(and in response to ar inquiry Dr. Farlow confirms the statement), that — 
_ for two years and a half advanced students in the cryptogamic laboratory” 
at Harvard have successfully applied the zoélogical methods of imbedding 
to plants. Certainly, no one could have suspected this from the expres: 
sions in the papers published by two of these gentiemen. Mr. J. B. Hum- 
‘phrey in his paper on Agarum Turneri says:? “Although this seems — 
hard treatment [i. ¢., imbedding in paraffin and mounting in balsam] for 
an a tissue, the tough, leathery character of the frond enabled it to 
d 
* 
Wi 
paper of the volume cited, “On the Morphology of Ravenelia glandule- 
formis,” by Mr. G. H. Parker, p. 209, we read, “ Moreover, the density of 
Let it be borne in mind, however, that the esse” 
-Moll’s results are perfect preservation of the proto 
plasmic contents, absolute freedom from shriveling and perfect pence 
tion of the materi fin. 
? Se 7 bid: PLEASURE we note the evident tendency of our sy sae 
work. It is rapidly becoming more and more specialized, and hence , | 
ne ait boi. come more and more critical. Not so very long ago, 2 pare : 
oe anist who made any pretense to distinction was expected (0 ® 
ie sbstract in this journal, xii (1887), 
sian, n the Anatomy and Develepment 
of Agarum Turneri.—Proc. Am. neg 
well, and very satisfactory results were obtained.” Inthe next 
