﻿298 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [apkil 



to oscillate about the tip, it slowly bores down into any mud or crevice. — 



J. M. C. 



W. C. WORSDELL/5 using the theory that sporophylls preceded in time 

 all other kinds of leaves, and that the latter have been gradually differentiated 

 from theformer by sterilization, has attempted to trace the origin of the flower 

 from such a strobilus as that of the cycads. He calls attention to the fact 

 that in this strobilus the lowest sporophylls are sterile, and claims that these 

 are the progenitors of the floral leaves of angiosperms. He traces the 

 line into the Ranunculaceae, through such forms as Myosurus. and presents a 

 diagram illustrating the origin of calyx and corolla in the family. — J. M. C. 



Very few of the Rhodophyceae multiply vegetatively by brood organ 

 or reproductive fragments such as are found in several other groups of thal- 

 lophytes and among the bryophytes. Okamura/*^ however, reports a clear 

 case in Chondria crassicaulis from Japan. Small knob-like branches are 

 formed in the summer, which become richly stored with starch, and ripen 

 in winter, when they are easily detached from the parent plant. Filamentous 

 hold-fasts are developed at the proximal end which doubtless attach the 

 structure when it drifts to a suitable resting place. This habit recalls that 



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of certain Characeae whose nodal regions, stored with starch, may survive 

 an unfavorable season and later produce new growths. — B. M. Davis. 



Marloth^? has secured some interesting results from a study of Roridula, 

 one of the Droseraceae of South Africa, and the only shrubby member of the 

 family. Roridula with its sticky ''tentacles" catches insects to supplement 

 its food-supply, but a spider robs the plant of a share of its prey, being able 

 to walk or run over the leaves without the slightest hindrance from the sticky 

 secretion of the tentacles. At the same time, a small hemipterous insect 

 (capsid)' feeds upon the juices of the plant, having likewise acquired 

 immunity from the dangers of the glandular hairs ; but the plant utilizes it, 

 by certain attractions in the flower and specially developed mechanical 

 contrivances, to effect cross-pollination.— J, M. C. 



A CONTRIBUTION to proteid assimilation in molds is made by W. But- 

 kewitsch,^^ working in the Leipzig laboratory. Aspergillus, Penicillium, and 

 three species of Mucor were grown in solutions of Witt's peptone and of 

 fibrin, and the effect upon the medium was carefully studied. In cultures 



^5\VoRSDELL. W. C, The origin of the perianth of flowers, with special refer- 

 erence to the Ranunculaceae. New Phytol. 2 : 42-48. pi. 3. 1903. 



Okamura, K., On the vegetative reproduction of Chondria crassicaulis Harv. 

 Bot. Mag. Tokyo 17: 1-5. 1903. 



^7Marloth, R., Some recent observations on the biology of Roridula. Ann. 

 Botany 17: 151-157. 1903. 



'SBUTKEWITSCH, W., Umwandlung der Eiwessstoffe durch die niederen Pilze im 

 Zusammenhange mit Bedmgungen ihrerEntwickelung. Jahrb. Wiss. Bot. 38 : 147-24O' 



1902. 



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