444 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JUNE 
physiological disorders of plants, In the 12th Report the same writers dis- 
cuss a number of fungous diseases, especially tracing a relation between the 
abundance of asparagus rust and the physical character of the soil in con- 
serving water. In the 1gth Report of the New Jersey station, B. D. Halsted 
presents a varied annual report (80 pp.), similar to those of a number of 
years back for which he is so justly famous, Among the numerous topics 
taken up probably the most interesting are “Experiments with asparagus. 
rust’’ and “ Fungi as related to weather.” In the 11th Report of the Rhode 
Island station (1898) H. J. Webber and J. A. Tillinghast present a large 
amount of interesting data upon the feeding of plants with chemical fertil- 
izers, especially the use of lime on acid soils, the articles being well illus- 
trated. The third part of the 22d Report of the Connecticut station (18¢8) 
opens with four articles by Wm. C. Sturgis on diseases of melons, lima beans, 
tobacco, peach, and use of fungicides. In the 14th Report of the Maine 
station W. M. Munson has interesting articles on ‘“‘ The blueberry in Maine,” 
“A comparison of large and small radish seed,” “ The effect of sub-watering 
radishes,” and “ Pollination and fertilization of flowers.’”’ The botanists of 
the Vermont station, L. R. Jones and W. A. Orton, give in the 12th Report 
(1899) a valuable account of potato and apple diseases and their remedies, of 
killing weeds with chemicals, and of parasitic fungi of Vermont, bee the 
second list.— J. C. ARTHUR. 
-WE ARE TO HAVE from Dr. Blackman, of the University of Cambridge, 
a series of papers on the algae, that will aim to give a critical account of the 
work that has accumulated since Wille’s treatment in ‘“ Die natiirlichen 
Pflanzenfamilien”’ of Engler and Prantl in 1890. The first paper” has 
recently appeared, and, excluding the Cyanophyceae, takes up the simpler 
types of algae, discussing the possible relationships and lines of evolution. 
The author starts his lines of development from the level of the Protococ- 
coideae, and lays special stress on the Chlamydomonas-like forms, finding 
in their varied life histories several possibilities of evolution, worked out in 
different groups of the Chlorophyceae. There are three conspicuous tend- 
encies, resulting in the well-known types of vegetative organization called by 
him the volvocine, tetrasporine, and endosphaerine. 
The volvocine tendency lays emphasis upon the motile phases in the life 
history, and leads to the specialization and segregation of the ciliated cells. 
in the complex coenobia of the Volvocales. A tendency on the part of rest- 
ing cells to form filaments, cell plates, and membranes is termed tetra- 
sporine, and results in forms like Tetraspora, Hormidium, etc., and through 
them leads to the thallus of the Confervales. In the endosphaerine condition 
vegetative division is reduced to a minimum, and in its place is found the 
‘BLACKMAN, V. H.: The primitive Algae and Flagellata. An account of 
modern work bearing on the evolution of the Algae. Ann. Bot. 14: 647. 1900. 


