﻿1903] CUR REN T LI TERA TURE 297 



LiEFERUNG 2i6 of Englcr and Prantl's Die naturlichen PJlanzenfamilien 

 is devoted to the conclusion of the treatment of the Orthotrichaceae, to a 

 presentation of the Splachnaceae with 6r species, and of the Funariaceae 

 except the last genus, Funaria. The mosses are now the only group incom- 

 plete in this monumental work. — C. R. B. 



Professor Engler ''' has published a third edition of his very useful 

 outline of the classification of plants. It will be remembered that this 

 includes the characterization of all families and their important subdivisions; 

 with special mention of useful plants, since the book is intended for the use 

 of pharmaceutical students. — J. M. C. 



NOTES FOR STUDENTS. 



Wh 



mainly on his redeterminations of the material in the herbarium of the Uni- 

 versity of Minnesota. The list includes 178 species and varieties, 24 species 

 not having been previously reported from the state. — J. M. C. 



Nemec "^ reports that the action of benzol and i per cent. CuSO^ on the 

 roots of Pisum and Vicia causes many cells to contain two or more nuclei. 

 A few hours later these nuclei are found to have reunited; this fusion of 

 nuclei is obviously not in the least homologous with sexual fusion. The roots 

 eventually die.— E. B. Copeland. 



Melville T. Cook/^ in investigating Agrosfevima Githago, finds that 

 the ovulate archesporium consists of one to three cells "of which all but one 

 are absorbed/* that a short beak projects through the micropyle, that tw^o or 

 three rows of cells ** degenerate" to form a passage for the pollen-tube, that 

 the proembryo is filamentous, later differentiating into a filamentous suspen- 

 sor with vesicular basal cell and a large spherical embryo.— J. M. C. 



Cyril Crossland'^ has suggested the way in which mangrove seedlings 

 succeed in finding a lodgment on the coast of British and German East 

 Africa, the whole of which is composed of a hard coral limestone. The 

 peculiar seedlings float out to sea in regular fleets, the bud projecting from 

 the water. Upon reaching shore the root-tip is inserted into any softness or 

 crevice of the bottom by the falling tide, and the ripples causing the seedling 



""Engler, a., Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien. Edition 3. Berlin: Gebrlider 

 Borntraeger. 1903. ^4. 



'HVheeler, W. a., Catalog of Minnesota grasses. Minn. Bot. Studies 3:83-107' 

 1903, 



'"NEmec, B., Ueber ungeschlechtliche Kernschmelzimgen. Sitzber. Bohm. 

 Gesells. Wiss. 1902. Repaged reprint, 6 pp. 



■'3 Cook, Melville Thurstox, The development of the embryo-sac and embryo 

 of ^Srosiemma Git/iago. Ohio Naturalist 3 : 365-369, pls. 7'7<^- I903- 



''^Crossland, Cyril, Note on the dispersal of mangrove seedlings. Ann. Botany 

 17:267-270. 1903. 



