670 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 17S. 



having a pretty well developed blade and 

 bearing one or two ovules, to the usual 

 naked stalk bearing one or two ovules. An 

 examination of this plate is conclusive as 

 to the foliar nature of the structure bearing 

 the ovules. The homology of these struc- 

 tures with the ovuliferous leaves of Cycas 

 is quite evident. 



The anthers, which are born in catkin- 

 like clusters, are shown by the same writer to 

 be borne upon much modified leaves. The 

 so-called ' staminate catkin ' is, therefore, 

 a single stamen bearing many anthers, re- 

 minding us again of cycas, in which, how- 

 ever, the antheriferous leaves are broad 

 and the anthers sessile. 



THE KE-AKRANGEMENT OF THE GYMNO- 

 SPEEMS. 



The ' considerable change in the syste- 

 matic arrangement of Taxinete,' referred to 

 above, came very shortly after the publica- 

 tion of Fujii's paper, aided very greatly by 

 Hirase's discovery of antherozoids in 

 Ginkgo, and Ikeno's almost simultaneous 

 discovery of antherozoids in Cycas, also. 

 In the first Lieferung of the ' Nachtrag zu 

 Teil, II.-IV.,' of the Pflanzenfamilien 

 (1897) Engler suggests a new classification 

 of gymnosperms as follows : 



GYMNOSPERM^. 

 Class Cycadales, fecundation by spermatozoids. 

 Class Benn'ettitales. 

 Class Coedaitales. 



Class Ginkgoales, fecundation by spermatozoids. 

 Class Conifeeae, fecundation by non-ciliated sperm- 



niTClei. 

 Class Gnetales, fecundation by non-ciliated sperm- 

 nuclei. 



In the eighth Lieferung of the ' Nachtrag ' ( dated 

 October, 1897) this is further modified as follows : 



GYMNOSPERMyE. 



A. Fecundation by spermatozoids. 

 Class Cycadales. 



Class Bejjettitales (extinct). 

 Class Coedaitales (extinct). 

 Class Ginkgoales. 



B. Fecundation by sperm-nuclei. 



a. No true perianth. 



Class Coniferae. 

 J. A perianth present. 



Class Gnetales. 



This rearrangement brings about a good 

 deal of confusion in the chapter relating to 

 the conifers in the Pflamenfmnilien. We are 

 now asked to rearrange that text so as to 

 divide the class (after excluding Ginkgo) 

 into two groups, viz.: Taxaceae (including 

 Podocarpeae, with genera Saxegothaea, Micro- 

 cachrys, Podoearpus and Dacrydium, and 

 Taxeae with genera Phyllodadiis, Cephalo- 

 taxus, Torreya and Taxus) and Pinaceae (now 

 arranged under Araucarieae, Abietineae,. 

 Taxodieae and Cupressineae) . We have 

 thus a division of Conifers into a lower fam- 

 ily (Taxaceae) and a higher (Pinaceae), 

 and this is the sequence we are to recog- 

 nize, while in the higher family the four 

 tribes are arranged in a descending series. 



The editor of the Pflanzenfamilien should 

 issue a revision of the pages of ' Teil 11.,'^ 

 which deal with the gymnosperms (about 

 130 pages) in order that at the approach- 

 ing completion of the work it will not be 

 marred by the present patchwork arrange- 

 ment. 



Charles E. Bessey. 



The "University of Nebraska. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 the recent eclipse. 



At the Eoyal Institution on April 29tb 

 Mr. W. H. M. Christie, the Astronomer Royal, 

 gave a discourse on ' The Recent Eclipse. ' 



Mr. Christie said, according to the report in 

 the London Times, that he was afraid that hi& 

 account of the eclipse would be somewhat im- 

 perfect, because the reports of the various ob- 

 servers had not j'et been published, and the in- 

 formation he had been able to glean as to the 

 results obtained by the parties of American,. 

 Japanese and Italian observers was somewhat 

 meager. After the failure from bad weather, 

 which was the fate of nearly all the expeditions- 

 in the eclipse of 1S96, it was felt that every ef- 



