ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 87 



necessarily so, and that Sachs' and Eichler's emergence or ligular 

 theory may be true as to Araucariege, and that thus the cone of these 

 plants is really and truly a single flower. In regard to Taxodineee 

 and Cupressinese he is convinced that an inner fruit-scale really exists, 

 completely adnate to the bract and soon outgrowing it, but he does 

 not venture to pronounce on its nature, because he thus far has no 

 ocular demonstration of it through any anamorphoses. Celakovsky 

 concludes that the arillus of Taxacese corresponds to the ligula of 

 Araucarieae. He speaks of the terminal position of the ovule in this 

 tribe as of very little morphological importance, the ovule being really 

 lateral but pushed to the top of an axis. 



O. Heer, the celebrated phyto-palaeontologist, has shown that 

 geologically Abietinese and Taxodineae are the oldest conifers now 

 known, appearing in the Carboniferous period, while Araucarieee 

 come up much later, in the Triassic and Jurassic formations. But 

 the relative geological age of the different tribes of plants is of 

 much less importance for the appreciation of their degree of develop- 

 ment and their position in the system, than some suppose. Thus 

 the Cycadese, the Phanerogams most closely allied to Vascular 

 Cryptogams, are, as Heer states, very uncertain in the Carboniferous, 

 and make their decided appearance first in the Permian rocks, there- 

 fore much later than the more highly developed conifers. 



To these arguments A. W. Eichler replies,* sujiporting his previous 

 conclusions by considerations founded by the position of the bracts 

 in the female flowers, and the arrangement and structure of the scales 

 in the mature cones. 



Flower adapted for Fertilizatioa by Snails, f — F. Ludwig 

 describes the structure of the flower of PJiilodendron Ijijjinnatifidum 

 (Aroidete), which is malacophilous, i. e. incapable of self-fertilization, 

 and fertilized only by the agency of snails, which, entering the spathe 

 and creeping over the flowers, carry the pollen from the male to the 

 female flowers. They aj)pear to be attracted by an intense nutmeg- 

 like odour, which suddenly pervades the inflorescence at the time of 

 maturity of the stigmas, accompanied by a copious exhalation of 

 carbonic acid. 



Insects and the Cross-fertilization of Flowers. % — E. Heckel 

 adheres to his view that insects are not the cause of the luxuriance of 

 the Alpine Flora, and considers that the observations of C. Musset,§ 

 on the simultaneous existence of insects and flowers at great heights 

 prove that there are insects there and nothing more. M. Heckel 

 maintains that the true cause is to be found in the greater intensity 

 of solar radiation at these altitudes than in the plain. 



Development of the Wing of the Seed of Ehinanthus.|| — The 

 descriptions by different botanists of the seed of Bhinanthus Mrsutus 



* SB. Ges. Naturf. Freunde Berlin, 1882, pp. 77-92. 



t Kosmos, vi. (1882) p. 347. 



X Comptes Rendits, xcv. (1882) p. 1179. 



§ Cf. this Journal, ii. (1882) p. 653. 



II Bot. Ceutralbl., xi. (1882) pp. 362-7. 



