ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 83 



them, possibly, to the Myxosporidia, while, on the other hand, the 

 production of falciform bodies or sporozoites in the spores is the 

 exact opposite of what takes place in the Myxosporids. The author 

 proposes to form for the genus a new order of Amcehosporidia, feeling 

 that the process of conjugation and the mode of sporulation separate 

 them from the Coccidia, as do the pseudopodia and the sporulation from 

 the Gregarinidfe, and the falciform corpuscles from the Myxosporidia. 



BOTANY. 



A. GENERAL, including the Anatomy and Physiology 

 of the Phanerogamia. 



a. Anatomy.* 



Connection of Protoplasts and Intercellular Protoplasm, f — 



J. Schaarschmidt has made a series of observations on this subject, 

 making as little use of reagents as possible, endeavouring to bring out 

 the connecting threads by staining alone, in which he was successful 

 with Viscum album and Loranthus europceus. A transverse section of 

 the stem coloured with eosin shows the threads only in the pith, almost 

 entirely inclosed by the cell- wall, and only very faintly visible as fine 

 red streaks. The protoplasm which fills up the lumen of the pits 

 sends six or eight delicate threads through the closing membrane. 

 The investigations were made chiefly on prosenchymatous tissue. 



In the epidermis the connection was beautifully shown in the 

 leaves of Glaucium Fischeri, also in Viscum and Loranthus, especially 

 where the radial walls of the cells are strongly pitted. The con- 

 necting threads are visible after only slight swelling, and the continuity 

 of the protoplasts can be determined through the entire epidermis. 

 When the epidermis consists of several layers, as in Ficus elastica, 

 the continuity can be determined only by excessively careful treat- 

 ment, in consequence of the great thinness of the protoplasm. In 

 coUenchymatous hypoderma, on the other hand, as in Samhucus, Rhus, 

 Cucurhita, Solanum, Liriodendron, &c., even very slight swelling 

 brings it out clearly, the swelling of the cell-walls exercising great 

 compression on the protoplasts. 



The cortical parenchyma is the tissue in which the connection is 

 most readily demonstrated, after, or sometimes even without swelling, 

 as in Viscum. When there is no hypoderma the epidermal cells are 

 in direct communication with those of the cortex. 



In the parenchyma of the leaf the connection can be shown in 

 Viscum and Loranthus, and very beautifully in the cotyledons of 

 Phaseolus multijiorus. 



* This subdivision contains (1) Cell-structure and Protoplasm (including the 

 Nucleus and Cell-division) ; (2) Other Cell-contents (including the Cell-sap and 

 Chlorophyll); (3) Secretions; (4) Structure of Tissues; and (5) Structure of 



t Magy. Novenyt. Lapok, viii. (1884) pp. 65-79 (3 pis.). See Bot. Centralbl,, 

 xix. (1884) p. 265. See this Journal, iii. (1883) pp. 225, 524, 677 ; iv. (1884) 

 pp. 76, 404, 405, 763. See also ' Nature,' xxxi. (1885) pp. 290-2. 



G 2 



