76 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JULY 
and loose, delicate chromatophores, was chosen for study. Material was 
fixed in Flemming’s solution and afterward treated witha strong solution of 
chromic acid (40 per cent.), which dissolved successively the cytoplasm, 
karyoplasm and nucleolus, but did not dissolve the spindle fibers. Sections do 
not seem to have been used. 
During the earlier stages of karyokinesis the nuclear membrane is entirely 
resorbed, ‘he spindle is derived from the granular cytoplasm about the 
nucleus and consists of but one kind of fibers, the two different lengths of 
fibers and the two opposite groups described by Strasburger for Spirogyra 
polytaeniata not appearing in S. ¢riformis. The spindle fibers do not grow 
through the nuclear membrane as described by Strasburger. The spindle is 
at first multipolar, but becomes bipolar. There is no diminution in the num- 
ber of spindle fibers during karyokinesis, but after karyokinesis the spindle 
fibers become resolved into cytoplasm. The spindle fibers resist the action 
of chloral hydrate and so are easily distinguished from cytoplasmic strands. 
The walls of the vacuoles are also made visible by chloral hydrate. During 
karyokinesis the walls of the vacuoles with some cell sap press between the 
spindle fibers and appear within the spindle. Between the two halves of the 
nuclear plate a number of plasma strands are formed inclosing the spindle 
fibers, but there is no persistent, closed connecting tube as described by 
Strasburger for S. Jolytaeniata.— CHARLES J. CHAMBERLAIN. 
A NUMBER of fossils, brought together by the late Sir William Dawson, 
have been described by Penhallow.% The first lot are from the Lower Cre- 
taceous of Queen Charlotte islands, and the Upper Cretaceous of Port McNeil, 
Vancouver island. Several ferns are described, among them a new species, 
Osmundites skidegatensis, from “Skidegate Inlet, Queen Charlotte islands, 
which is referred to at length in connection with a fuller subsequent descrip- 
tion. Of gymnosperms there are species of Cycadites, Zamites, Ginkgo, and 
Sequoia. In Seguoia langsdorfii (Brongn.) Heer, the wood is described for 
the first time, although the foliage and fruit have long been known. The 
wood is of special interest because like that of S. sempervirens, the living 
species which so closely resembles S. /angsdorfii, otherwise, it contains 
resin-canals such as are in general confined to the woody tissues of the 
Abietineae. The second lot of material is from the early Eocene of Blind 
Man river, N. W. T. of Canada, and includes a number of ferns, an Equi- 
setum, and several gymnosperms. Several monocotyledonous and dicoty- 
ledonous species are also described and figured. 
In another paper” Penhallow gives a fuller description of the fossil 
Osmundites skidegatensis, mentioned in the article referred to above. The 
78 PENHALLOW, D. P., Notes on oo and Tertiary plants of Canada. 
Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada II. 8: 31-91. 
79 PENHALLOW, D. P., Osmundites oe Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada 
Il. 8: 3-30. Igoz. 
