1914] CURRENT LITERATURE 375 



Fertilization of synergids. — Occasional anomalies have been noted even in 

 8-nucleate embryo sacs developed from a single megaspore. Persjdski 7 

 describes additional cases in Delphinium elatutn. Usually the development of 

 the sac is normal, the egg having a vacuole at its micropylar end, while the 

 synergids have the vacuole at the opposite end. In some cases the position of 

 the vacuoles is reversed, so that the synergids have the organization of eggs 

 and the egg has the appearance of a synergid. One case is figured in which 

 the two male nuclei are fusing with the nuclei of two such synergids. It will 

 be remembered that Guignard figured two embryos of Naias major which may 

 have arisen in this way. Persidski also figures an egg apparatus of five cells; 

 three eggs and two synergids. This emphasizes what most of us have long 

 believed, that the various nuclei of the sac are homologous and may replace 

 each other in function. — Charles J. Chamberlain. 



A new Araucarioxylon. — Dr. Stopes 8 has described a new Araucarioxylon 

 (A. novae-zelandii) from the Cretaceous of New Zealand. It is described as 

 new because it differs greatly from the more imperfect specimens of fossil 

 araucarians hitherto recorded from that region. Its chief differential feature 

 is the extreme development of the rows of thickened tracheids on either side 

 of the rays, which are filled with large " resin-spools." By " resin-spools' ' is 

 meant deposits of resin in the form of large disks opposite the middle of the 

 pith rays, the lateral extensions of these disks running up and down the con- 

 taining wall for some distance. The new species has also much more regular 

 and strongly marked annual rings than usual among araucarians, which is held 

 to be good evidence that New Zealand had well marked seasons during the 

 Middle Cretaceous.— J. M. C. 



Cases of suspended vitality. — Buller and Cameron 9 have recorded some 

 remarkable cases of suspended vitality. They have shown that the "fruit 

 bodies" of Daedalea bicolor can retain their vitality when dried, kept in the 

 dark, and exposed to ordinary air at room temperatures, for at least seven and 

 a half years; while those of Schizophyllum commune endured the same treat- 

 ment for at least five years and seven months. The fruit bodies of the latter 

 fungus, after previous drying by exposure to phosphorus pent oxide in vacuo, 

 retained their vitality after being kept for 16. 5 months in a vacuum at a pres- 

 sure of not more than o. 1 mm. of mercury, in the dark at room temperatures; 



7 Persidski, D., Einige Falle anomaler Bildung des Embryosackes bei Delphinium 

 datum. Mem. Soc. Xat. Kiew 23:97-112. Jigs. 6. 1914. 



8 Stopes, Marie C, A new Araucarioxylon from New Zealand. Ann. Bot. 28: 

 34i-35o* figs. 3. pi. 20. 1914. 



Cameron 



of vitality in the fruit bodies of certain Hymenomycetes. Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada 

 6:73-78. 1912. 



