ZOOLOGY AND EOT AH Y, MICEOSCOPY, ETC. 611 



Morphology of the Flowers of Canna.*— Herr K. Schumann dis- 

 cusses several very difficult points in the structure of the flower of 

 Canna. The usual view of the inflorescence, that it is a 2-flowered 

 cyme, in which the second flower is not antidromous, but homodromous, 

 he cannot altogether accept, believing rather that it presents an inter- 

 mediate form between the two chief groups of inflorescences. He also 

 contests the theory of Eichler, that in the formation of the style only 

 one out of the three carpids of which the flower is composed has been 

 concerned. 



Diagram of the Flower of Cruciferae.j — From an examination of 

 abnormal flowers of Capsella bursa-jpastoris, which displayed phyllody of 

 the flowers and strong branching of the whole plant, Dr. E. Chodat 

 confirms Dr. J. Miiller's view that the flower is diplostemonons, and 

 tetramerous throughout. He would construct the diagram thus : — A 

 median bract, usually suppressed ; 2 lateral bracts usually suppressed ; 

 4 sepals in an orthogonal whorl ; 4 petals in a diagonal whorl ; 8 stamens 

 in two alternate whorls of 4, the outer whorl in orthogonal position, of 

 which the two median stamens are usually doubled ; the inner whorl in 

 diagonal position, usually suppressed ; 4 carpids in orthogonal position, 

 of which the two median ones are usually suppressed. 



Ovules of Grasses. f — Besides the ordinary position of the ovules in 

 grasses, ascending and subbasilar, M. H. Baillon describes two abnormal 

 positions ; a directly opposite pendent position in Lygeum, and an 

 intermediate position, occasional in HierocMoe horealis, where the ovule 

 is attached to a point in the ovary about half-way between the base 

 and the apex, and the hilum is situated about half-way along the posterior 

 margin of the ovule, the chalazal and micropylar extremities of the 

 ovule being at about an equal distance from the point of attachment. 



Replum in Crucifer8e.§ — Prof. I. B. Balfour states that the term 

 replum is used either for the framework of the fruit left after the fall of 

 the valves, across which the septum stretches, or, in most British text- 

 books, for the septum itself. The word was introduced by Brassai; 

 and although he does not specially mention the septum, it is clear from 

 the whole context that he introduced the term for the framework across 

 which the septum stretches, and not for the septum. The use of the 

 word in most of our text-books in Britain is therefore wrong. 



Fruit of Solanacese. || — M, A. G. Garcin describes the fruit of various 

 members of the natural order Solanacese. The tissues " consist of four 

 layers of cells ; the innermost but one gives rise to the bundles. The 

 septa are either numerous, as in Solanum rdbustum, or few, as in Petunia ; 

 but the most important fact is that in certain fruits the definite number 

 of cells has been entirely formed before the ovules are fertilized, that is 

 to say, that in order for the ovary to become transformed into fruit, it 

 has only to increase the dimensions and not the number of the cells. In 

 others, on the contrary, after the ovules are fertilized, further cells ai'e 

 formed. To the first type belong the dry fruits, and, what is a curious 



=^ Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., vi. (1888) pp. 55-66. 

 t Flora, Ixxi. (1888) pp. 145^9. 



% Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Paris, 1887. See Morot's Journ. Bot., ii. (1888) Eey. 

 Bibl., p. 33. § Ann. of Bot., i. (1888) pp. 367-8. 



II Morot's Joum. Bot,, ii. (1888) pp. 108-15 (5 figs.). 



