1897] CURRENT LITERATURE 383. 
by C. Miiller and Kindberg, while three are relegated to the doubtful list, 
and two tothe rank of varieties. Brachythecium asperrimum holds the record 
with four Kindbergian names as synonyms! Let the good work go on.—C 
. 
AT THE TIME of the death of Dr. Schréter, December, 1894, the Pi/ze of 
the Avyptogamen-Flora von Schliesen was within three parts of complete- 
ness. Part of the manuscript for the remainder was prepared, but about one 
signature had not been begun. The publishers have now issued one of the 
remaining parts’ which carries the work through the fungi perfecti, and 
through eighty-five species of the fumgi imperfecti, which is all the material 
the author left in readiness for the press. 
The publishers express regret that they have been unable to secure 
a suitable person to complete the work upon the original lines. They there- 
fore purpose to issue shortly a final part, to contain such species as Schroter 
had indicated, as shown by his fragmentary notes and the herbarium depos- 
ited in the Pflanzenphysiologisches Institut of the University of Breslau. It 
will also contain a supplement giving Schréter’s changes and additions to the 
preceding parts, and will close with an index to the second volume.—J.C. A. 
NOTES FOR STUDENTS. 
FRIEDRICH OLTMANNS‘S has described the results of a recent study of the 
Swarm spores of certain Phzophyceze. He claims to have disproved the 
Statements of Berthold,” as quoted in the standard texts, that in Ectocarpus 
liculosus a large zoospore comes to rest, becomes attached to one to four 
small zoospores, and then fuses with them; also that zoospores from pluri- 
locular s rangia fuse in pairs. The form most fully studied was £. criniger, 
in which unilocular sporangia, if present, were not discovered. The claim 
is that one is dealing here, not with a primitive condition of sexuality, but 
rather with infusorians which are eating the algal zoospores. The number of 
nuclei in the so-called zygote is invariably one greater than the number of 
chromatophores, and the extra nucleus differs from the others in appearance 
and staining reactions. The process of digestion of the spores can be fol- 
lowed, and the wastes are ejected as minute balls. These facts point to the 
‘Ifusorial nature of the larger organism. This conclusion does not deny all 
5ScHROTER, J.—Kryptogamen-Flora von Schliesen, Dritter Band: Pilze. Zweite 
ies vierte Lieferung. 8vo. pp. 385-500. Breslau: J. U. Kern’s Verlag. 1897. 
_ *Ueber Scheincopulationen bei Ectocarpeen und anderen Algen. Flora 83 : 398- 
414. 1897, 
: Die geschlechtliche Fortpflanzung der eigentlichen Phaeosporeen. Mitth, d.200h- 
Stat. Neapel 22401. 1897. 
