246 : BOTANICAL GAZETTE [SEPTEMBER 
vegetation and succulence through materials (proteins, etc.) built from it or 
through its lyotropic effects, and whether the partially contrasting effects of 
phosphates depend upon the first or second condition. Periodicity in salt 
absorption which has been observed in trees and grains is also minimized It 
seems evident that to get far back of the general cece which KLEBS 
has apparently proved, there is need of a careful study of internal conditions 
of the plant, anatomical, chemical, and microchemical, as well as the application 
(by injection or otherwise) of various salts and carbohydrates and products 
manufactured from them to be sure of the effective agents. WILLIAM CROCKER. 
Morphology of Gnetum.—TuHompson*™ has done a much needed service 
in making a thoroughgoing investigation of Gnetum. We have had too meager 
information in reference to this important and puzzling genus, owing mainly 
to the difficulty of obtaining material representing any extended and close 
series of stages. THompPson obtained his material during a visit to the Malay 
Archi pelago, and chiefly from the Botanic Garden at Buitenzorg and the 
adjacent country. As a consequence, he has published an extended account 
of all the structures related to reproduction. Several species were investigated, 
and especially two species that represent the extremes of variation. The 
details are so numerous that they cannot be repeated in a review, but some of 
the more important facts may be mentioned. Certain strobili were found in 
which the flowers are arranged in a spiral, and are thus very suggestive of 
catkins of Amentiferae. In the development of the megasporangium the 3 
envelopes arise in acropetal succession, and the micropylar tube, which THOMP- 
SON regards as a style, develops conducting tissue. No vegetative cells appear 
in the development of the male gametophyte, and the microspores frequently 
germinate in the micropylar tube at a distance from the nucellus. At fertili- 
zation stage the female gametophyte consists of approximately 256 or 512 
free nuclei; and after the entrance of the pollen tube rapid divisions occur, 
multinucleate compartments being formed and all the nuclei in each compart- 
ment Ing. 
ec: concludes that the strobili of Guetwm are closely related to the 
_ catkins of the Amentifereae; that the flowers are reduced from a bisporangiate 
condition; that the inner “envelope” of the ovulate flower is an ovary homolo- 
gous with that of the angiosperms and bearing a true style (the micropylar 
tube); that the female gametophyte is gymnospermous in its early stages and 
angiospermous in the later ones; that the fusion of nuclei preceding endosperm 
formation is a forerunner of that in angiosperms; that the angiosperms have 
been derived from ancestors very much like modern Gnetales, and that, in 
fact, the genus Gnetum should probably be classified with angiosperms.— 
i Me. 
%3 THOMPSON, WALTER ss rea morphology and aflinities of Gnetum. Amer. Jour. 
Bot. 3:135-184. pis. 2-7. 
