230 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 8. 



temperature, and by the action of free, passive oxy- 

 gen, can be oxidized, forming, in tbe presence of water, 

 peroxide of liydrogen. Starting from Traube's state- 

 ment of the changes which accompany oxidation, es- 

 pecially the formation of peroxide of hydrogen, Prof. 

 Reinke gives the following as a sufficient basis on 

 which to build a theory of oxidation in living cells. 

 (He has himself shown tlaat there exists in certain 

 plants, notably in the beet, a very easily oxidizable 

 body, which he has named rhodogen. This substance 

 is one of Traube's autoxidizable bodies, and is only 

 one of many which may be reasonably assumed to be 

 present in cells.) 



1. In every active cell, autoxidators are formed; 

 that is, substances which, at a low temperature, and 

 by the action of molecular oxygen, can be oxidized in 

 the presence of water. 



2. By oxidation of these substances, peroxide of 

 hydrogen is produced. 



3. This peroxide of hydrogen can, under the influ- 

 ence of diastase, and probably of other ferments, 

 cause further oxidations, just as atomic oxygen can. 



Lastly, the seat of this activity is the periphery of 

 the protoplasmic body of the cell ; and this body pos- 

 sesses an alkaline reaction. — (Bot. zeit., Feb. 2 and 9, 

 1883. ) G. L. G. [508 



Structures -which favor cross-fertilization in 

 certain plants. — Several are made known and dis- 

 cussed by Trelease. The protogyny, development of 

 the anthers one after the other, and usual cross-fer- 

 tilization by the jostling of the little plants caused 

 by surface-currents of the water, are well made out. 

 The singular arrangement in Hakea and other Pro- 

 teaceae is worked out with new particulars ; also a 

 curious explosive arrangement in certain heaths, a 

 new study of Salvia, and some remarkable arrange- 

 ments in two Acantliaceous flowers, in one of whicli 

 a slow cliaiige of position, in the other an irritable 

 movement, insures cross-fertilization. The flowers 

 were studied at the Botanic garden, Cambridge. — 

 {Proc. Bost. soc. nai. hist, March, 1SS2.) A. G.1509 



(Fossil plants.) 

 Fossil -wrood from India. — Prof. A. Schenck 

 enumerates the specimens of fossil wood collected in 

 the East Indies by the brothers Schlagintweit. The 

 greater number of these specimens, twenty, pertain 

 to gymnospermous trees; one species represented by 

 six specimens being identified as Nicolia aegyptiaca, 

 Ung., which was originally described from the wood 

 of the fossil forest of Egypt. Of the other specimens 

 five are conifers, and two monocotyledonous, — palms. 

 Of the conifers four specimens are described under 

 the name of Araucaroxylon Eobertianum, the other 

 as Cedroxylon Hermanni. The two specimens of 

 jjalms represent different species. — (Engler's bot. 

 jahrb., iii. 853.) L. L. [510 



Cotta's species of Perfossus. — Prof. A. Sclienk 

 records the result of his researches on the original 

 specimens, which Cotta had compared or referred to 

 palms from the distribution of the fragments of fossil 

 wood in the tertiary. The specimens do not appear 

 to have been critically examined since Cotta, the 

 names only being changed : Perfossus angularis, Ung. 

 and Stenzel, for Perfossus; and Palmantes perfossus, 

 Schimper, for Fasciculites perfossus. Perfossus cos- 

 tatus, Cotta, has not been mentioned by Schimper 

 and Stenzel; Unger refers it to corals. From the re- 

 searches of Prof. Schenk, it appears that the speci- 

 mens from which Perfossus punctatus has been 

 constituted by Cotta, represent two different species, 

 — Stenzelia elegans, Goepp. (medullosa, Cotta) of 



the Cycadeae, and a species of palm, probably of the 

 genus Phoenix. — (Engler's bot. jahrb., iii. 484. ) L. L. 



[511 

 ZOOLOGY. 



Peculiar method of budding in the Campanu- 

 laridae. — The well-known tendency shown by cer- 

 tain hydroids, when kept in confinement, to throw 

 out long tubular processes, which may subsequently 

 become the foundations of new communities, is de- 

 scribed in detail by Dr. Lend enf eld as exhibited in 

 Campanularia and Gonothyraea. — {Zool. anz., No. 

 130.) w. K. B. [512 



Observations on Australian hydroids. — Dr. 

 Lendenfeld Writes that he has independently discov- 

 ered in Australian Campanularidae the glandular ring 

 which has been described in Eudendrium by Weiss- 

 man and Jickeli. He has also verified the existence 

 of Jickeli's ' ganglion-cells ; ' and he finds similar cells 

 in the endodermal lining of the proboscis, where they 

 are very numerous. The processes which they give 

 off anastomose with each other so as to build up a, 

 definite 'nerve-ring' around the mouth. Lendenfeld 

 regards this as the true central nervous system of 

 hydroids. If these star-shap^ed corpuscles of hy- 

 droids are really nerve-cells, we have in these animals 

 a central nervous system which is endodermal in its 

 origin, and which is not homologous with the nerve- 

 ring of the hydro-medusae. In the Campanularidae 

 the endodermal ganglion-cells of the proboscis are 

 joined to sensory cells, each of which carries a sensory 

 hair projecting into the digestive cavity. — {Zool. am., 

 No. 131.') w. K. B. [513 



MoUnsks. 



Soft parts of Ammonites. — At the, November 

 meeting of tlie Liverpool geological association, a 

 paper on Ammonites and the Aptychus was read by 

 Mr. P. P. Marrat. That gentleman, after reviewing the 

 subject as treated by others, concluded that it is prob- 

 able that some species of Ammonites, perhaps those 

 protected hy a deep-water habitat, were destitute of 

 these appendages, while others, perhaps littoral in 

 their range, and more subject to attacks from preda- 

 cious enemies, were provided with them. He con- 

 siders them as opercular attachments to a ' hood ' 

 such as exists in Natitilus. Both calcareous and 

 horny Aptychi have been found in situ. They are 

 generally smooth or slightly striated ; but in the Free 

 public museum of Liverpool is a very fine example, 

 from tlie lithographic slate of Solenhofen, with a dis- 

 tinctly granular surface, recalling that of the thick, 

 granular hood of Nautilus. The appearance of the 

 edges of the valves in this specimen, beautifully pre- 

 served, indicates that its margin was not free, as in 

 gastropod opercula, but that it was partly imljedded 

 in a cartilaginous lobe which fitted the margin of the 

 aperture like the wavy mai'gin of the hood in Nauti- 

 lus. In this view the hypothesis that Ammonites were 

 internal sliells, like Spirula, would seem to be quite 

 untenable, as no internal shell is known which has 

 any opercular apparatus. — "W. H. D. [514 



Crnstaceans. 

 Hererogenesis in Copepoda. — Under this title, 

 C. L. Herrick, after calling attention to the wide geo- 

 graphical range of some species of Copepoda, and giv- 

 ing instances of species common to the fresh waters 

 ofEurope and North America, describes forms of 

 Cyclops and Diaptomus apparently due to abundance 

 of food, and other conditions of environment. In 

 another note the same author refers to a blind non- 



