= SS 
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1903 | CURRENT LITERATURE are 
_bell jars of adequate size, proper arrangements being made for ventilation 
and for maintaining the moistness or dryness of the air at will. Although 
the paper contributes few entirely new facts, it brings experimental evidence 
to bear upon conclusions already drawn from comparative observations.— 
SCHIFFNER’S studies“ of Gymnomitrium and Marsupella may be sum- 
marized in the following synonymy: MARSUPELLA SPRUCEL (Limpr.) Bern. 
stat. MARSUPELLA USTULATA Spruce (Sarcoscyphus Sprucet decipiens Limpr 
Nardia gracilis Mass. & Car.), GYMNOMITRIUM ADUSTUM Nees (Marsupclla 
olivacea Spruce; Azolea brevissima Dum. inadmiss.). MARSUPELLA CON- 
DENSATA (Angstr.)Kaal. (Gymnomitrium condensatum Angstr., non Limpr.; 
Sarcoscyphus aemulus Limpr., et auct.) MARSUPELLA (Hyalacme) APICULATA 
Schiffn. (Gymnomitrium condensatum Limpr. et auct., non Angstr.). GyM- 
NOMITRIUM ALPINUM (Gott.) Schiffn. (Sarcoscyphus alpinus Gott.) 
By USING MODERN METHODS in an investigation of the development of 
the antheridial “ flower’’ of Polytrichum and Mnium, Vaupel seems to have 
settled the Hofmeister-Leitgeb-Goebel controversy as to its morphology.’ In 
Mnium each cluster of antheridia in the “compound male flower” (7. ¢., each 
twig of the branch system) corresponds to the antheridial group of Funaria, 
in that the first antheridium develops from the apical cell, the rest arising at 
various points. Leaf formation in the center of the “flower,” however, is 
suppressed, all the segments forming antheridia. But in Polytrichum the 
apical cells of the twigs do not produce antheridia, persisting even until rudi- 
ments of the last antheridia appear. Thus again the truth lies between the 
contestants. Vaupel also ascertained that the brown substance in certain 
cells of the paraphyses of Mnium cuspidatum and Polytrichum juniperinum 
prevents the absorption of water by the stems, leaving it all to the antheridia ; 
that the opening of the antheridia of Marchantia is due to the swelling of the 
mucilage laid down in the wall cells; and that the rhizoid strands of Poly- 
trichum are primarily water conductors.—C. R. B. 
RESPIRATION.— Further researches on the influence of injuries upon the 
respiratory quotient have been made by Maximow," who corrects some of 
ichards’s results, confirms others, and concludes that (1) the variations are 
due partly to the capacity of fleshy organs to retain for a time considerable 
amounts of CO, and to eliminate it later in excess; (2) when injured the 
early increase of CO, (which soon ceases) is due to the exposure of additional 
4 SCHIFFNER, VICTOR, Studien iiber kritische Arten der Gattung Gymnomitrium 
und Marsupella. Oesterr. Bot. Zeits. 53 :95-99, 166-172, 185-194, 246-252, 280-284. 
pls. 2-4. 1903 
% VAUPEL, F., Beitrage zur Kenntniss einiger Bryophyten. Flora 92: 346-370. 
1903. 
76 Maximow, N. A., Ueber den Einfluss der Verletzungen auf die Respira- 
tionsquotient. Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesells. 2x: 252-259. 1903 
