72 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [jULY 



* 



nucleus and the direction of the segment wall. The nucleus assumes such a 

 position long before the wall appears. The leaf immediately below is rarely 

 of sufficient length to reach the apical cell, as Schwendener assumes, and 

 even when it does, stands out from the axis at a very appreciable angle. 

 Even though there appears to be a correlation between the position of the 

 lower leaf and the direction of the segment wall, we must look for some more 

 hidden stimulus than mere physical contact. — James J. Wolfe. 



A. G. Tanslev and Miss R. B. Lulham ^3 in a preliminary note describe 

 a new type of fern stele in species of Lindsaya from the Malay peninsula and 

 elsewhere. The tubular central cylinder has permanently a core of phloem 

 only, and is of considerable interest because it presents in the adult a condi- 

 tion which is a developmental phase only in other siphonostelic ferns. In 

 the same number of the Annals Gwynne-Vaughn'^ describes a curious axil- 

 lary organ in Hebninthostachys zeylanica. He suggests that the structure m 

 question may be a vestigial axillary bud, or perhaps of glandular nature, i. 

 G. HiLL^s makes a preliminary announcement of the discovery of a cambium 

 in the fibrovascular strands of Angiopteris evecta, L. A. Boodle^* also 

 describes lignification of the phloem in Helianthiis annuus. Treatment or 

 the sieve-tubes of old stems with phloroglucin and hydrochloric acid brmgs 

 about the pink lignin reaction, not only in the walls but also in the contents 

 of the tubes. — E. C. Jeffrey. 



Hus '7 has published a systematic account of the species of Porphyra of 

 our Pacific coast, with notes on structure and distribution. One is surprised 

 to learn the great length of some of these plants, 325^" being recorded 

 for a specimen of P. perforata hviceolata, and over three meters for P. nereo- 

 cysfis. There are two forms of attachment ; the usual one discoid, and made 

 up of rhizoidal filaments ; and the second a cushion-like parenchymatous 

 type. The latter Is peculiar to P, naiadum, which occurs on Phyllospadix 

 and Zostera, and results in certain interesting peculiarities of growth and 

 structure. The cushion is at first a single layer of cells in thickness, and by 

 marginal growth extends over the leaf surfaces of the eel grass. An indefi- 

 nite number of fronds may develop from this cushion, any superficial cell 

 having the power of growth. The cushion is therefore a preliminary phase 



^3 On a new type of fern stele, and its probable phylogenetic relations. Annals 

 of Botany 16: 157-164. 1902, 



'4 On an unexplained point in the anatomy of Heiminthosiackys zeylanica. Idem. 

 170-173. 



'5 0a secondary thickening in Angiopteris evecta. Idem. I73~i74> 



**On lignification in the phloem of Helianthtis annmts. Idem, 180-183. 



^7Hus, T., An account of the species of Porphyra found on the Pacific coast of 

 North America. Proc. Cal, Acad. Sci. Bot. 2 : 173-238. pis, 20-22, 1902. 



