78 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



blances between the breathing of plants and animals, and says that in 

 the same manner as the inhaled oxygen combines with the haemo- 

 globulin of the blood of animals, and forms more active combinations of 

 the character of ozone, so does it combine in plants with some fluid, 

 which has not yet been identified, but that the presence of ozone 

 in the ripe fruit can be detected by any of the ordinary tests, such as 

 guaiacum or iodide of starch. 



B. CRYPTOGAMIA. 



Rabenhorst's'Cryptogamic Flora.'* — The publication of a new 

 edition of this work (first published in 1844), has commenced under 

 the editorship of G. Winter, of Zurich, for the Fungi ; G. Limpricht, 

 of Breslau, for the Musci and Hepaticse ; F. Hauck, of Trieste, for the 

 Marine Algfe ; P. Eichter, of Leipzig, for the Fresh-water AlgsB ; and 

 A, Grunow, for the Diatomaceae. The editors of the volumes to be 

 devoted to the Vascular Cryptogams, Characese, and Lichens are not 

 yet announced. 



Each volume, in addition to the special systematic part, will con- 

 tain a general one, to be devoted to the structure, life, and develop- 

 ment of the forms with which it deals, and directions for collecting, 

 preparing, and investigating, so that the work will be available for 

 the beginner as well as for the specialist. With the exception of the 

 Marine Algae, each genus will be figured. 



Cryptogamia Vascularia. 



Prothallium of Lycopodium.l — In addition to the very defective 

 knowledge which we as yet possess respecting the germination of the 

 spores of Lycopodiu7n, and the structure of the prothallium and sexual 

 organs, Dr. G. Beck contributes the following : — 



The germination of the spores is attended with the greatest diffi- 

 culty. The sowing of several species in water was entirely without 

 result. Spores of L. alpinum, annotinum, and Selago showed no signs 

 of germinating when sown, under various conditions of moisture and 

 temperature, on peat, slimy soil, or sand, or when buried in the soil ; 

 those of L. clavatum manifested some symptoms of germination sown 

 2 cm. below the surface in ordinary garden soil ; but the only success, 

 and that only partial, was with spores of L. inundatum, sown on very 

 fine washed peat, and exposed to diffused daylight. 



The sphero-cubical spores increase in volume ; the cell-wall 

 becomes more transparent, and the solid contents assume a granular 

 character and a slight green colour. The first rupture of the exospore 

 takes place along one of the thickening ridges, but the next between 

 the two other ridges, so that the exospore splits into three lobes. The 

 prothallium now projects obliquely through the lateral opening, and 

 already contains chlorophyll-grains. The first division in the spore 

 takes place after the rupture of the exospore, a septum dividing it into 



* ' Rabenhorst's Kryptogamen -Flora Deutschlands, Oesterreichs und der 

 Scliweiz. 2 Aufl. Die Pilze ; bearbeitet von Dr. G. Winter.* Part 1. (8vo. 

 Leipzig, 1880.) 



t Oesterr. Bot, Zeit., xxx. (1880) pp. 341-4. 



