


T901] CURRENT LITERATURE 363 
of mitosis. According to this interpretation there is no qualitative reduction 
during the first division of the spore mother cell.—CHARLES J. CHAMBERLAIN. 
THE LIFE HISTORY of Schizaea Pusilla has been investigated recently, 
and the results form the first fairly complete account of this interesting fern.’ 
The material was collected at Forked river, New Jersey, in July tg00. Sec- 
tions do not seem to have been made except in the study of the root, stem, 
and leaf. While the peculiar gametophyte and the general aspect of the 
young sporophyte are shown more clearly without sections, one cannot help 
feeling that the account of the development of the antheridia and arche- 
gonia, and also of the very young sporophyte, would have been more satis- 
factory if the study had been made from microtome sections. The gametophyte 
is composed of numerous erect branching filaments which have a somewhat 
uniform diameter and bear a striking resemblance to the protonema of a moss. 
The filaments persist until the young sporophyte has attained considerable 
size. The archegonia are not imbedded, but are entirely free, in general 
appearance suggesting the archegonia of certain liverworts. The arche- 
gonium originates as a single superficial cell which gives rise to a row of 
three cells. From the outermost of these is formed a neck consisting of four 
tiers of cells with four cells in each tier. From the middle cell comes the 
central cell which gives rise to the neck canal cell, the ventral canal cell, and 
the egg. The basal cell forms the venter. One figure illustrating the devel- 
opment of the antheridium shows a row of three cells. The outermost cell 
“becomes largé and globular and cuts off a cap cell at the summit, with the 
wall oblique. The large cell divides up into the mother cells of the anthero- 
zoids and one ring cell.” The anatomy of the root, stem, and leaf is described 
in detail. CHARLES J. CHAMBERLAIN. 
Dr. A, Kerr * has recently studied anthrax to ascertain if it is possible 
to produce the spores in a culture of the bacillus grown under artificial ana- 
erobic conditions, and to observe the effect of nitrogen and hydrogen upon the 
growth of the colonies. For the nitrogen experiments Buchner’s tubes con- 
taining pyrogallic acid and caustic potash were used. By this means the 
oxygen and carbon dioxid of the atmosphere in the sealed tubes were 
absorbed, leaving nothing but nitrogen. For the hydrogen experiments he 
employed Kipp’s apparatus for generating the hydrogen, and Botkin’s appa- 
ratus for growing the cultures in plates and in liquid media. Although every 
Precaution was taken against the possibility of error, Klett shows by careful 
experimentation that spore formation in anthrax is independent of the pres- 
ence of oxygen. He was enabled to obtain a rich growth of the bacillus with 
*S BRITTON, ELIZABETH G. and TAYLOR, ALEXANDRIA: The life history of 
Schizaea pusilla. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 28: 1-19. pls. 7-6. 1901. 
** Die Sporenbildungen des Miltzbrandes bei Anaérobiose. Zeit. f. Hyg. u. Infec- 
tionskrank. 35 : 420. 1900. 
