488 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JUNE 
archegonium with no basal cell and with vertical division of the neck canal 
cell, root and shoot epibasal in origin, small leaves and strobili, and cladosi- 
phony. 
Fossil forms were also considered, and, applying the data menioned 
above, it was concluded that the Sphenophyllum forms should not constitute 
a separate phylum, but that they belong to the Equisetum series, as primitive 
protostelic forms. Accordingly the phylum Equisetales, extending from the 
Silurian to the present time, is made to include three families, Sphenophyl- 
lace, Calamitacez, and Equisetaceze.—J. M. C 
M. W. BEIJERINCK® has made a valuable contribution to the subject 
of spore production in alcoholic yeasts. The method employed by him, which 
I have tried also and found successful, was as follows: 
w t. agar-agar was added to distilled water and boiled until 
thoroughly aunted then filtered and poured in a thin layer into a shallow 
glass dish. This is allowed to cool and solidify and is cut into thin strips, 
which are placed in a flask containing distilled water. The water is changed 
about once a week; in this way the agar is washed and purified and we 
obtain what Beijerinck terms ‘pure’’ agar. After the agar has been 
treated for a period of about six weeks, it is transferred into a clean flask 
and dissolved in the steam-bath, then placed in test tubes and sterilized in 
the usual manner. 
The yeast is then spread in a very thin layer over the surface of slanted 
agar and the whole placed in the incubator at 28—30°C. or kept at the room 
temperature. Beijerinck obtained his best results by using room tempera- 
ture, but I have obtained the best results with ordinary beer yeast at a 
temperature of 28-30°C 
Beijerinck also found that a sporogenous yeast cell multiplies by forming 
spores, and that if the cell begins to multiply by budding it cannot again be 
brought to produce spores. 
In addition to the method for producing spores in yeast, Beijerinck in 
the second part of his paper gives some characteristics by means of whic 
the sporogenous yeast cells can be distinguished microscopically from the 
asporogenous ; they are as follows: 
Spore-bearing cells can be differentiated from spore-free cells by 
means of the iodine reaction, inasmuch as in some cases the spores contain 
granules in the wall which stain blue, while the cell capsule remains colorless ; 
in other cases the cell capsule contains glycogen and stains violet-brown 
by iodine, while the cell contents remain unstained (S. Uvarum), or finally 
the sporulation may be characterized through an accumulation of glycogen 
° BEIJERINCK, M. W.: Ueber Regeneration der Sporenbildung bei Alkoholhefen, 
wo diese Funktion im Verchwinden begriffen ist. Centr. f. Bakter. Parasit. u. Infek. 
42 : 657-663, 721-730. 
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