ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 363 



yields about 21 per cent, of paracholesterin. Tlie volatile fatty acids 

 found were propionic, butyric, caprionic, and probably caprinic acid, 

 the non-volatile fatty acids, stearic, palmitic, and oleic acids. 



The spores contain a larger quantity of asparagin than the proto- 

 plasm. The presence of acetic and oxalic acids was certainly, that of 

 lactic acid probably, determined. In perfectly fresh protoplasm, 

 Hoppe-Seyler's method determined the presence of myosin and 

 vitellin ; in the glycerin-extract was a ferment (pepsin) with the 

 property of dissolving albumen. 



Properties of the Protoplasm in TJrtica urens * — F. Kallen 

 has investigated the phenomena displayed by the protoplasm of the 

 stinging-nettle, in the merismatic cells, the medullary cells, the 

 epidermal cells, the hairs, the glandular hairs, the stinging hairs, the 

 cortical parenchymatous cells, the bast-fibres, the cells of the soft 

 bast, the cambium cells, the wood-vessels, and the prosenchymatous 

 cells. The following are the general results arrived at. 



In all the cells the nucleus is densest and largest in comparison 

 to the size of the cell in the youngest stage. In older stages of the 

 parenchymatous cells there is frequent fragmentation ; this occurs in 

 the pith, the cortex, and the unthickened wood-parenchyma-cells. 

 The finely punctated protoplasm exhibits at all stages a coarsely reti- 

 culate structure, as in the medullary cells ; but the interstices are 

 covered by a hyaline layer of protoplasm, so that the protoplasmic 

 utricle is nowhere interrupted. The nucleus does not usually dis- 

 appear before the protoplasm ; in the sieve-tubes only does this take 

 place ; while in older stages of the bast-fibres, the nucleus is partially 

 absorbed. In the xylem-vessels the nucleus and protoplasm never 

 disappear. Crystalloids were in a few cases found in the nuclei of 

 the hairs. The multinucleated bast-fibres contain latex. The nuclei 

 of the bast-fibres multiply by fragmentation, not, as Treub supposes, 

 by division. 



Fertilization of Salvia splendens.f — W. Trelease describes the 

 " ornithophilous" structure of this Brazilian species, the structure being 

 especially adapted for fertilization by humming-birds. It is proter- 

 androus, and there is no arrangement to facilitate fertilization by 

 either day or night-flying insects. 



Eeproductive Organs of Loranthacese.t — M. Treub has investi- 

 gated the development and structure of the sexual organs in this 

 natural order in the case of Loranthus splicerocarpus. The rudimentary 

 carpels enclose a small cavity, in the middle of which rises a hemi- 

 spherical central papilla, an elongation of the axis. This papilla is 

 so connected with the carpels that only three or four canals remain 

 open, and these also soon disappear. Before this comjjlete union is 

 effected, there can be detected in each free lobe of the central pajiilla 

 hypodermal cells of larger size, which soon assume a nearly vertical 



* Flora, Ixv. (1882) pp. 65-80, 81-92, 97-105 (1 pi.), 

 t Amer. Natural., xv. (1881) pp. 265-9. 



X Ann. Jard. bot. Buitenzorg (Java), ii. (1881) pp. 54-76 (8 pis.). See Bot. 

 Ztg., xl, (1882) p. 59. 



2 B 2 



