ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 01 



the fact that the terminal joints of the fruiting rays are one-celled. No 

 other species has such simple terminals ; no species has so little fruit 

 and such imperfectly formed " nests." It is Nitella-like in its habit of 

 growth, and slightly iucrusted. 



Muscinese. 



Transpiration of the Sporophore of Mosses.* — Mr. J. E. Vaizey 

 has confirmed by actual experiment his theory, previously enunciated on 

 anatomical grounds, that the thin-walled strand of tissue in the sporo- 

 gonium of mosses, to which he applies the term leptoxylon, is that which 

 conducts the transpiration current up the seta to the apophysis, the organ 

 of absorption and of assimilation and transpiration. The method adopted 

 was to place the cut ends of the sporogonium in a drop of eosin, which 

 was found to pass up the whole of the seta and enter the apophysis. 

 The species experimented on were Polytrichum formosum and Splachnum 

 sphsericum. 



Vegetative reproduction of a Moss.f — Herr H. Schulze describes 

 a peculiar mode of vegetative reproduction in a variety of Hypnum 

 (Harpidiurn) aduncum ; in the production of terminal buds at the ends 

 of the stem and branches. They were usually surrounded by a few 

 filiform paraphyses, and resembled in structure Schimper's bulbils or 

 gemmules. 



Sporogonium of Andreaea and Sphagnum. $ — Herr M. Waldner 

 gives a complete account of the development of these two genera of 

 mosses from the embryo to the mature sporogonium. 



New Sphagna.§— Dr. C. Miiller proposes the classification of the 

 species of Sphagnum, which he reckons at about 120, under the following 

 seven sub-genera, viz. : — (1) Platy sphagnum (S. cymbifolia). Folia 

 squamato-imbricata majuscula, apice rotundato-obtusata, apice plus minus 

 cucullata. (2) Comatosphagnum (S. subsecunda). Folia dense conferta, 

 ramulos plus minus julaceos sistentia, apice truncata exesa. (3) Aci- 

 sphagnum (S. cuspidata). Folia plus minus squamoso-imbricata, laxe 

 disposita, plus minus elongata, apice truncata exesa. (4) Malaco- 

 sphagnum (S. rigida). Folia imbricata rigido-patula, apice truncata 

 exesa. (5) Pycnosphagnum (S. acutifolia). Folia imbricata parva, 

 ramulos tenuissimos sistentia, apice truncata exesa. (6) Acrosphagnum 

 (S. mucronata). Folia imbricata ovato-mucronata pseudo-mucronata, 

 apice vix bifida. (7) Acoccosphagnum (S. sericea). Folia parva imbricata 

 sericea mucronata, fibris annularibus carentia. 



Of these subdivisions (6) belongs entirely to South Africa and 

 Madagascar; (7) to the Sunda Isles. Dr. Miiller then describes as 

 many as thirty new species of Sphagnum, nearly all from the southern 

 hemisphere. 



Rabenhorst's ' Cryptogamic Flora of Germany ' (Musci). — The last 

 two parts of this work (7 and 8), by Herr K. G. Limpricht, are still 

 occupied by the Acrocarpa?. The genus Gampylopus is completed, and 



* Ann. of Bot., i. (1887) pp. 73-4. See this Journal, 1887, p. 122. 

 t Bot. Centmlbl., xxxi. (18S7) pp. 382-4. 



% Waldner, M., ' Die Entwick. d. Sporogone v. Andrerea u. Sphagnum,' 25 pp. 

 and 4 pin., Leipzig, 1887. See Bot. Ztg., xlv. (1887) p. 725. 

 § Flora, lxx. (1887) pp. 403-22. 



