﻿1 9 3 J CUR REN T LITER A TURE 2 2 1 



He finds red or red-brown chromoplasts also in seven species of Selagi- 

 nella. The pigment proves to be a carotin. — C. R. B, 



Centrosome-like bodies in the vegetative cells of the vascular crypto- 

 gams have been reinvestigated by Professor Nemec^ The principal material 

 was root-tips of Blechmmi braziliense^ Diplazhi77t ptihescens, Dracaena arborea, 

 Hibiscus calyci?tus, and Almis ghitinosa. It was not difficult to find bodies 

 which resembled centrosomes and would doubtless be interpreted as such by 

 those who expect to find centrosomes in every cell. The writer comes to 

 the conclusion, however, that there are no genuine centrosomes in the vege- 

 tative cells of the vascular plants, and unless blepharoplasts are centrosomes 

 and he believes they are not — that there are no centrosomes at all in 

 vascular plants. The figures look like those which are familiar to any one 

 who has made preparations of mitotic figures in root tips. Professor Nemec 

 states that with the same technique which he used for the root tips he was 

 able to differentiate clearly the centrosomes of the liverworts.— Charles J. 

 Chamberlain. 



One may get a very clear statement of Dangeard's^ views on sexuality 

 and related phenomena from a paper by him in Le Botaniste. Dangeard 

 believes that the sexual act had its beginning through starved zoospores 

 which fused with one another to satisfy this hunger. Sexuality was thus 

 primarily autophagy. Parthenogenesis is to be expected whenever gametes 

 find an environment sufficiently favorable for the vegetative activities com- 

 mon to all spores, /.<?., when taken out of their famished condition. These 

 first principles form the basis of a discussion of reduction phenomena, the 

 evolution and differentiation of sexual cells, a comparison of sexual processes 

 in animals and plants, and other topics. 



This is an interesting paper, presented in an attractive style. One must 

 be cautious, however, in following Dangeard, for he deals with the most diffi- 

 cult field of speculative biology, where conditions are undoubtedly far more 

 complex than is generally believed. — B. M, Davis. 



Ruhland7 has made a preliminary report on the fertilization of some 

 species of Peronospora and Sclerospora,^ and especially Albugo Lepigoni, 

 The conditions in the latter are especially worth noting, since it adds a fifth 

 form in Stevens's interesting series of four species in this genus {Albugo 

 Bhh, A, Portiilacae, A. Tragopogonis , and A. catidida). Albugo Lepigoni 

 has a very large coenocentrum and a much reduced receptive papilla, so that 

 It stands at the Candida end of the series. As a rule only one nucleus enters 

 the ooplasm, taking its position near the coenocentrum, where it divides 



5 Nemec, B., Ueber centrosomahnliche Gebilde in vegetatlven Zellen der 

 <^efasspflanzen. Ber. Deutsch. BoL GeselL ig : 301-310. //. /J^ 1901. 



''Dangeard, P, a., Theorie de la sexualite. Le Botaniste 6: 263-290. T898, 



^RUHLAND, W. voN, Die Befruchtung von Albugo Lepigoni und einigen Pero- 

 nosporeen, Hedwigia 41 : 179-180. 1902. 



