272 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [MARCH 
Multiseriate ray of dicotyledons.—THompsons’ has investigated the - 
origin of the multiseriate ray in a number of dicotyledons. He finds that in 
many families Sea agi Casuarinaceae, Fagaceae, Betulaceae) multiseriate 
rays are produce y the breaking up of the ancestral broad compoun 
“type,” a type which is much broader than either the uniseriate or multiseriate, 
and consists of an extensive homogeneous mass of parenchyma, such a ray as 
“gives to the oak wood its characteristic grain.” From this origin, as the 
author infers, the multiseriate ray, the most recent type of ray structure, has 
spread throughout the wood in the higher dicotyledons. Reversions to the 
old compound type are to be observed in i. roots, etc., of those plants 
characterized by multiseriate rays.—J. M 
The work of Chodat.—The remarkable range of work that one man may 
undertake is illustrated by the two most recent fascicles from the Botanical 
Institute of the University of Geneva. They contain six papers by CHODAT, 
Balearic Islands, which becomes R. ovici Salvatoris Chod., nom. nov.;* 
the occurrence of green snow on a Swiss glacier, found to be due to a Raphidium 
described as R. Vireti Chodat ;39 a description of variegated clusters of grapes, 
which is a problem in genetics; the first of a series of studies of the Conjugales, 
dealing with conjugation in Spirogyra;** a study, from sections, of the stem 
structure of Lepidodendron Brownii;# and the description of a new genus of 
Cyanophyceae (Ernstiella) 4—J. M 
Food reserves of trees.—PRrESTON and PHILLIPs have investigated the 
question of the nature and variation of the food reserves of certain American 
trees, comparing their results with those obtained by European investigators, 
a summary of whose work they present. Starch appears to be the principal 
reserve according to most authorities, and in temperate climates a consider- 
able reduction in its amount takes place during the first weeks of winter, but 
there is no great increase in the content of sugar except at the unfolding of buds 
37 THompson, W. P., On the origin of the multiseriate ray of the dicotyledons. 
Ann. ae 25: 1005- oki pls. 77, 78. 1911. 
38 CuopaT, R., Un Rhamnus méconnu des Baléares, Bull. Soc. Bot. Genéve II. 
$2240 947, opty 
———, Sur la neige verte du glacier d’Argentiére. op. cit. 294-207. jigs. 4- 
, Sur des grappes de raisins panachées. op. cit. 359-363. figs. 3. 
st ____. Etudes sur les Conjuguées. 1. Sur la copulation d’un Spirogyra. op. cit. 
iis e. 27. IgIo. 
ji axe y Lepidodendron Brownii (Lepidostrobus Brownii Schimpr.). 
op. cit. 3: éie figs. 7. 191i. 
goes rufa Chod. un nouveau genre de Cyanophycées coccogénes. 
op. cit. 125, 126. 
4 Preston, J. F., and Puituips, F. J., Seasonal variation in the food reserves of 
trees. Forestry Quarterly 9: 231-243. 1911. 
40 
