370 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 13. 



sometimes elapsing before the effect wos observed. 

 Tlie (lou-ers of this species are nnable to expand to 

 any great extent, on account of their sliort tube sur- 

 roiimled by strong and stiff spines. If tlie fiowers 

 could expand, as in Opnnlia, and the stamens lie flat, 

 as ill tliatgcnu-i, the motion might be equal. As in 

 Opuntia, the motion was not always up towards the 

 pistil, but might be horizontal, to the left or t& the 

 right: there seemed to be no rule. The bending w.as 

 from the base^ as the (ilament retained a perfectly 

 str.iight lino during Iho movement. Mr. Meehan 

 further remarUe I, that, in descriptions of cactaceous 

 l^laiits, the relative length of petals or stamens to the 

 pistil was often given. He had observed, that in 

 many species, near the period of the ejection of the 

 pollen from the antber-cplls, the stamens and style 

 were of about equal length, but that the latter con- 

 tinued to grow afiei- the maturity of the anthers, and, 

 in Echinociictus Whipplci, would finally reach to ne.ar 

 half an inch aljove. He bad not bi'en able to get any 

 genera of Cactaceae to fruit under cultivation, except 

 Opuntia. unless they were artilicially poUenized. By 

 tlie application of the flower's own iiolleu to the 

 sligma, they usually perfected fruit. His specimens 

 of Echinocaetus Whipplei and E. polyancistrus had 

 bright purple flowers, although the latter were usually 

 described as yellow or greenish. — (Acad. nat. kc. 

 Pldlad. ; meeiiiig April lU.) [782 



The relatiou.s of heat to the sexes of flowers. 



— Mr. Thomas Meehan remarked that he liad ob- 

 served that a few comparatively warm days in winter 

 or early spring wonlil bring the male flowers of mo- 

 noecious plants to maturity, w-liilo the female flowers 

 remained to advance only under a higher and more 

 constant temperature. He believed this accounted for 

 tlieir frequent barrenness. Last spring the male 

 flowers of a speeimeii of Corylus avellana were past 

 maturity before the appearance of action in the female 

 flower-bud-i. Tliere were consequently no nuts on 

 this tree last sea-^on. The iiresent season was one of 

 unusually low temperature, and the lia/.el-nul li.ad not 

 had its male blossoms In'otiglit prematurely forward. 

 The male flu wets were showing their anthers, while the 

 female biuls bad their pretty ]iurple stigmas protrud- 

 ing. He Could therefore in-ediet with confidence a 

 full crop from the tree which the season before w.is 

 barren. — {Acad. nat. sc. P/iiiad. ; meeliiui April lit.) 



[783 

 {Sytiemattc.) 

 Grasses. — Dr. Vasey proposes to publish, in con- 

 nection with F. L. Scribner, a full catalogue of 

 North-American grasses, and in a circular gives the 

 names merely of twenty-nine new species .anil varie- 

 ties, mainly based upon recent collections, but as yet 

 unpublished. jNIr. Scribner continues \\U list of the 

 grasses of Pringle's collection in Arizona and Cali- 

 fornia, giving descriptions of the less familiar species. 

 He also de-cribes a new Poa from the head waters of 

 the Sacramento, and a viscid species of Diplachne 

 from near Tucson; though of the latter lie says, " It 

 is not improbable Ihiit it has already been described 

 in worUs not accessible." — {Bull. I'orr. hot. club, 

 March, ISS;!.) s. w. [784 



New ferns. — Mr. Lemmon's researches in the 

 Huachucha Mountains, near the boundary-line in 

 Arizona, add several species to the list of United- 

 States ferns. Prof. Eaton describes five such species, 

 pi'eviou^ly known only from Mexico or farther south, 



— a Polypodinm, a Notliolaena, a Pellaea, a Cbeilan- 

 thes, and two Aspleniums. He adds a new Notlio- 

 laena, from California and Arizona, hitherto confused 

 with N. Candida, and notes tlie discovery of Asple- 



nium montannm in Connecticut. — {Bull. Torr. hnt. 

 c;a6, March, 1SS3.) s. w. [785 



Lythraceae. — Koehne concludes the strictly sys- 

 tematic portion of his monograph with the genus 

 Lagerstroemiii, of twenty-one species, chiefly of 

 central A^ia, Cluna, .and .Jap.aii (two native to Aus- 

 triilia, and one in Madeira), and Lawsonia, of a 

 single species, the 'Henna' of the orientals, widely 

 cultivated in the tropics, but of uncertain origin. A 

 discussion of the geographical distril)Ution ami of the 

 morphology of the order is to follow. — {Enyler's 

 hot. jahrb., March, ISS-:].) s. w. [786 



ZOOLOGY. 



Protozoa, 

 Investigations on certain Protozoa. — Dr. 



August Griiber, the skilful observer of Protozoa, has 

 published a memoir in which ho describes two new 

 salt-water rbizopods, and reports new observations 

 on certain Infusoria, and the conjugation of Actino- 

 phrys. The lirst new rliizopod is nameil Pachymyxa 

 hystrix. It is distingui.shed especially by an envelope 

 composed of little rodlets, standing perpendicular to 

 the surface. In this envelope .are pores through 

 which simple, not branching, lobate pseudopodia can 

 be extended, as in a foraminifer. The animal can 

 slowly alter its form. It is brown in color, and has 

 in its interior numerovis bodies wdiich may be small 

 nuclei. In the same aquarium a similar animal was 

 observeil, but which liad no envelope. Gruber con- 

 siders this second form as probably the same species 

 in a different condition. The .second new species, 

 Amoeba obtecta, is very small (U.0o-U.U4 mm.). It 

 builds itself a granular dome-shaped liou.'c. it has no 

 contractile vacuole; but a nucleus may be brouglit 

 out by reagents. As they move about little, they 

 are usually found in colonies. 



In part second (Infusoria) a new species (S. guttula) 

 of Spongomonas is described. The minute round 

 or oval ilagellate animals live e.ach in its tube; but 

 the tubes are all united together to form a hollow 

 sphere. Gruber suggests, that, as they occur in putrid 

 water, tliey have gathered together around a bubble 

 of oxygen, and so coino to form a liollow colony. 

 The genus Sticliotrieha is remarkable among hypo- 

 trichnns Infusoria for forming a protective covering. 

 Gruber describes several forms, which may be only 

 varieties of S. socialis. besides another form, which 

 lie names S. urnula. It lives in a transparent, mem- 

 branous, flask-shaped shell, has the characteristic 

 ciliation of tlie genus, two oval nuclei, to be seen 

 only in stained specimens, but no nucleoli were 

 detected. Over the body are flexible cilia, capable 

 of acting alternately as cilia and pseudopodia. The 

 animals multiply liy division ; tlie two daughter- 

 animals living a while in one shell, until one wan- 

 ders forth, and forms a new shell, usually near by, 

 so that a cohmy may be thus formed. Grittier also 

 refers Kent's Chaetospira and Hudson's Archimedea 

 to Sticholricha. 



Besides the usual fusion of two or many individual 

 Actinophrys, Gruber has observed the fusion as 

 rather absorption of a small Actinophrys without a 

 nucleus by a big nucleated individual. There is no 

 reason for believing that either form of fusion is 

 concerned Avitli reproduction. Finally tlie author 

 advances some general considerations to show that 

 the nucleus h.as no importance for those functions 

 of the cell-body which stand in no direct relation to 

 reproduction ; namely, movement, assimilation, ex- 

 cretion, and growth. It may also be without influence 

 on the external form. — {Zeitachr. wiss. zool., xxxviii. 

 4.5. ) c. s. M. [787 



