774 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



c. Stem-leaves always broadest at the upper part ; only evidently 



narrowed below. 



1. Stem-leaves fringed only at tbe broad apex ; cortex of 



3-4 layers. S. Lindbergii Sclipr. 



2. Stem-leaves fringed not only at the broad apex, but also on 



the margins low down ; cortex of two layers. S. fimbria- 

 tum Wils. 



d. Stem-leaves of equal breadth above and below ; hence tongue- 



shaped. 



1. Branch-leaves ovate-lanceolate, toothed at the narrow apex. 



* Cortex in 3-4 layers, porous. S. Girgensohnii Euss. 

 ** Cortex in 2-3 layers, not porous. >S^. teres Angstr. 



2. Branch-leaves broadly oval (almost as in S. cymhifolium), 



toothed at the broad apex. S. Angstrbmii Hartm. 

 B. Spiral fibres in the cortex of the branches ; branch-leaves always 

 very finely dentate-ciliate at the apes and on the margin lower 

 down. >S^. cymhifolium Ehr. 



Characese. 



Genevan Characese. f— In his synopsis of the Characeae of the 

 neighbourhood of Geneva, J. Miiller retains the family as a distinct 

 group, associating them with the Muscineae under the term Bryan- 

 thogamfe. He regards them as constituting a single family, composed 

 of two genera only, Chara and Nitella. A number of new forms are 

 described. 



Nitella mucronata Kiitz. is regarded as a variety of N. flabellata 

 Braun. Of N. gracilis a new furm y maxima is described ; and of 

 N. intricata a /? tenuis. 



In the genus Chara descriptions are given of a large number of 

 new forms belonging to the species C, ceratophylla Wallr., contraria 

 Braun, foetida Braun, hispida Braun, aspera Willd., and fragilis 

 Desv. 



Fungi. 



American Gymnosporang^ia or " Cedar-apples." J — As a contri- 

 bution to the natural history of the Urediueas, W. G. Farlow describes 

 in detail eight species of Gymnosporangiiim or " Podisoma," found in 

 the United States, giving the following as the diagnosis of the 

 genus : — " Spores yellow or orange-coloured, usually 2-celled, occa- 

 sionally 1-6-celled, on long hyaline pedicels, imbedded in a mass of 

 jelly, which when moistened swells into columnar or irregularly 

 expanded masses. Mycelium parasitic in the leaves and branches of 

 different Cupressineae, producing in them various distortions." This 

 he supplements with various descriptions of eight species of the 

 secidial form Boestelia, which he tlius defines : — " ^cidia usually 

 hypophyllous, lower part sunk in the swollen tissues of the leaves, 

 forming above cylindrical, conical, or oblong projections which are 



f J. Miiller, ' Les Characees genevoises.' Extr. du Bull. Soc, Bot. Geneve, 

 1881. See Hedwigia, xx. (1881) pp. 94 and 104. 



X Anuiv. Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 1880, o8 pp. (2 pis.). 



