156 Notes and Comments. 
The experiments clearly show that the decomposition of 
chlorophyll is accompanied by the formation of an ‘aldehyde 
and of something able to oxidise the potassium iodide and to 
set free the iodine. Instead of alcoholic extract of chlorophyll 
we may use dried leaves, or chlorophyll expressed from leaves, 
or layers of Euglena or alge spread over the paper. The 
reactions also take place inside a leaf, if the bleaching has been 
efficient.’ 
EXPERIMENTS ON OXALIS ACETOSELLA. 
‘ Thus if sunlight is condensed by lens upon a living leaf of 
Oxalis acetosella containing plenty of starch, the chlorophyll is 
bleached in a small area, and if treated with Schifi’s solution, 
a strong aldehyde reaction results; if tested with potassium 
iodide the said area becomes blue. It having been stated that 
formaldehyde is produced when chlorophyll is exposed to 
sunlight in the presence of carbon dioxide, an attempt was 
made to determine whether such was the case in the present 
series of experiments, but the author was not able to satisfy 
himself on this point, though several of the tests succeeded even 
with so small an amount as one-millionth of formaldehyde. 
Hydrogen peroxide had been suggested as the gaseous oxidising 
compound of chlorophyll, but the result of many varied tests 
showed that this was not so.’ 
LONSDALEIA AND DIBUNOPHYLLUM RUGOSUM. 
At a recent meeting of the London Geological Society, 
Mr. Stanley Smith read a paper on ‘ The Genus Lonsdaleta 
and Dibunophyllum rugosum (McCoy). He discussed the 
literature, structural characters and development, descent, 
classification, and distribution of the corals constituting the 
genus Lonsdaleia, and gave a description of Dibunophyllum 
rugosum (McCoy). The Author’s reasons for including a 
description of D. rugosum in the paper are, first, the fact that 
the species was originally described by McCoy as Lonsdaleia 
vugosa; and, secondly, that considerable confusion exists 
between it and the fasciculate forms of Lonsdaleia. Lonsdaleta 
is a compound member of the Clisiophyllide, and occurs both 
as fasciculate and as massive colonies. The chief distinguish- 
ing features of the genus are the wide extrathecal area, large 
dissepiments, complex central column, and horizontal and 
widely-spaced tabule. Lonsdaleia is an Avonian or Lower 
Carboniferous genus, especially abundant in the highest 
horizons of that series (D? and higher beds). The earliest 
example is Lonsdaleta prenuntia, from the Syringothyris Zone 
(C). A number of species and local forms have been recognized 
and were described. 
—— : 0 :—— 
The spring number of Bird Notes and News contains a fine coloured 
plate of the Crossbill. 
Naturalist, 
