430 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JONE 
the Araucariae, where the suberized outer layer is wanting. In the forms possess- 
ing the usual type of membrane, there is present a more or less well-developed 
tapetum, derived from the sporogenous tissue, which is quite distinct from that 
derived from nucellar tissue. Using the relative development of the megaspore 
coat and of the tapetum as a basis, the author concludes that the Abieteae are the 
most ancient group of Coniferales and the Taxeae the most recent; that the 
Taxodieae and Podocarpeae are complex, including both ancient and recent 
forms; and that = =i se occupy an intermediate position in the phylo- 
genetic series.—J. M. C. 
Nicotost Roncati? has published an account of the ovule of Anona Cheri- 
molia. A row of four megaspores and considerable parietal tissue are formed. 
The. innermost megaspore develops a narrow and much elongated embryo sac, 
whose antipodals appear to be ephemeral. The first divisions of the endosperm 
cells result in a series of walls across the narrow sac, which is thus divided into 
a linear series of five or six large chambers. Subsequent divisions fill these 
chambers with endosperm tissue. The embryo, as figured, has no definite 
nsor, but is at first a globular mass of cells. The ‘‘rumination of the seed,” 
characteristic of Anonaceae, is attributed by the author to the invasion of the 
perisperm by infoldings, chiefly from the inner integument. If this be true, 
it is entirely different from the “rumination” to be observed in Asimina:and in 
Torreya. The name “reserve idioblasts” is given to masses of nutritive material 
found in abundance in cells along the convolutions of the ‘‘rumination,” an 
thought to supply nutrition to the embryo after the endosperm has been digested 
and the perisperm contains an insufficient nutritive supply. The paper was 
presented to the Academy by Professor CAVARA c 
a 
Jones"° has published an account of the anatomy of the stem of Lycopodium. 
The general conclusions reached are as follows: The development of the vas- 
cular system has proceeded along two lines: (1) as the protoxylems increase 
in number, a series of alternating bands of xylem and phloem is developed; (2 
the phloem is scattered through the mass of xylem in more or less isolated patches, 
until a structure is produced that simulates that of Gleichenia. The first form 
is developed in creeping stems, the second is characteristic of tropical epiphytes. 
The young stem has a triarch or tetrarch structure; and the complex structure 
of larger stems is developed from this by the division of one of the — 
into two strands, and by the separation of a phloem into two portions; su 
quently, another protoxylem divides, and this process, together with the splitting 
of the phloem, is repeated until the number of protoxylems and protophloems 
reaches the number present in the large stem. The disposition of xylem and 
phloem is constantly altering, the length through which a definite portion of 
tissue (as a phloem-island) may be traced varying from 0.5 to 8™™.—J. M. C. 
- 
9 Roncatt, F. Nicolosi, Sviluppo dell’ ovulo e del seme nella Anona C herimolia 
Mill. Atti Acad. Gioenia Sci. Nat. Catania IV. 18:Mem. 2. pp. 26. pl. 1. 1904- 
1° JONES, CHARLES Epwarpb, The morphology and anatomy of the stem of the 
genus Lycopodium. Trans. Linn. Soc. London., II. Bot. '7:15-35. pls. 3-5. 19°5- 
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