376 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [NOVEMBER 
difference between that found in orthotropous roots and normally plagi- 
otropous ones.—C. R. B : 
A SHORT TIME since reference was made in this journal to the question 
of nomenclature in phytogeography.® It is interesting to read in this con- 
nection the translation of Professor Flahault’s address at the Paris Congress 
of Igoo. hile many may object to the arbitrary usage of the various 
terms suggested by Flahault, all will agree that the general questions at 
issue are made clearer, and we shall await the more impatiently the final 
decision of a competent committee. It seems questionable to the reviewer, 
however, whether the nomenclature problem can be settled by a committee, 
or even a convention, An arbitrary set of terms often acts to prevent a real 
advance of knowledge, if strict adherence is given to them. Already the 
terms zone, region, and association have rather definite meanings in the 
minds of active phytogeographers. Even the much vexed word “forma- 
tion” is being more commonly used in the original and broader sense, as 
more inclusive than the word “association.” Perhaps other terms also will 
become more definite in a perfectly natural way.— H. C. COWLES. 
W. H. Lane in a late paper” has given a preliminary account of some 
experimental work on wild plants of a species of Anthoceros, in which he 
has demonstrated that by mutilating very young unopened sporophytes and 
bringing the cut surfaces in contact with soil under certain conditions of 
moisture, temperature, and light, bud-like outgrowths are produced from the 
vegetative cells that lie between the sporogenous region and the external 
layer. The cells in this region are the least specialized of all in the capsule. 
They become to some degree isolated in position by the decay of the sur- 
sounding tissue. The general sequence of the early divisions in the cells 
giving rise to the so-called prothallial growths are said to be ‘closely par- 
allel to the early stages of germination of the spores of Anthoceros.”’ His 
cultures were carried no further than to the production of a “bud-like 
stage,’ which produced rhizoids. The result would he more convincing if he 
had obtained flat prothallia bearing reproductive organs. This is the first 
discovery of apospory recorded for any liverwort, although found in a 
number of mosses and ferns.— FLORENCE M. Lyon 
THE IMPORTANT worRKs of Stahl and of MacDougal and Lloyd on myco- 
rhiza have been reviewed in this journal.2* Mention should also be made of 
the work of Hesselman” on the mycorhiza of arctic plants. Boreal forms 
* Bot. Gaz. 31: 361. 1900. 9 Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 28: 391-409. 1901. 
*°On apospory in Anthoceros laevis. Ann. of Bot. 15: 503-510. pl. 27. 1901. 
* BoT. Gaz. 30: 68. 1900. 
* Bihang till K. Svensk. Vet. Akad. Handl. 26:—. 1900. (See Bot. Centralb. 
86: 239. 1901.) 
SET, 
1 ERENT 
