ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 83 



master observer in this department. The flowers studied were Silene 

 Armeria, Stellaria graminea, S. uliginosa, Sagina procumbens var. apetala, 

 Hibiscus syriacus, Viola, Potentilla Fragaria, Bibes nigrum, Lysimachia 

 vulgaris, Ajuga reptans, and Tcucrium Scorodonium. 



He notes, in regard to varieties of Lysimachia vulgaris, that in some 

 direct fertilization is certain, in others all but impossible. He calls 

 attention to the different forms of sexual arrangements observed in Stel- 

 laria graminea. In Teucrium a peculiarity results in cross-fertilization, 

 not only between different flowers, but between different inflorescences. 



The Caryophyllaceas are disposed in two classes: — (1) Where self- 

 fertilization is entirely or almost entirely impossible ; (2) where cross- 

 fertilization is less perfectly insured, and where self-fertilization may, in 

 case of need, occur. 



Flowering of Euryale ferox.* — It has been a matter of controversy 

 whether this plant, belonging to the Nyniphaaacea?, opens its flowers 

 above or below the surface of the water. From observations made in the 

 botanic gardens at Rome, Prof. G. Arcangeli concludes that the flower 

 is perfected under water, and is cleistogamous, self-fertilization taking 

 place in a kind of chamber formed by the perianth, the stigmatic disc, 

 which is curved into the form of a cup, and the stamens. 



(2) Nutrition and Growth (including Movements of Fluids)- 



Growth and Origin of Multicellular Plants. f— Mr. G. Massee 

 describes the structure and mode of formation of the gelatinous mem- 

 brane exterior to the true cellulose-wall, and extending continuously over 

 the whole plant, which isnot uncommon in Algee, and universal in the 

 FlorideaB. It can be clearly .-hown that the formation of the cellulose- 

 wall never precedes that of the mucilaginous sheath, and its function is 

 rather a supporting than a protecting one. The composition of the 

 mucilaginous sheath closely resembles, or is identical with, that of pro- 

 toplasm. The sheath is usually homogeneous, even after the appearance 

 of the cell-wall; but in Pandorina the innermost portion consists of 

 parallel rods placed end to end on the cell-wall ; while in Cladophora 

 crispata the rods run parallel to the surface of the wall. The portion 

 consisting of rods stains readily with methyl-violet and other anilin 

 dyes, while the homogeneous portion does not stain. 



In some cases, as in Polysiphonia, the surface of the sheath is more or 

 less papillose, and not unfrequently a papilla may be seen to extend 

 itself into an exceedingly fine cilium, varying in length from 5 to 100 /a, 

 and less than 1 //. thick. These cilia are plastic and flexible, but have 

 no spontaneous vibratile motion. They appear not to be unlike those 

 described by the author as occurring on the surface of some of the large 

 stipitate glands on the underground leaves of Lathrsea squamaria.% 



The outermost layers of this mucilaginous sheath often become 

 strongly cuticularized, while the inner portions do not change in their 

 chemical reactions. Internally, as in the stipes of many Algae, it is 

 secreted in such quantities as to force the cells apart, and destroy the 

 connecting strands of protoplasm ; and within this mucilaginous matrix 

 strings of new cells appear as outgrowths from older cells. 



* Atti Soc. Tosc. Sei. Nat., viii. (1887) pp. 281-300. 



t Journ. uf Bot., xxv. (1887) pp. 257-67. \ See this Journal, 1887, p. 111. 



G 2 



