416 Scientific Intelligence. 



Seeds of Lepidium were made to sprout in moist air, with the 

 roots of the germs vertical. As soon as the root-hairs began to 

 appear, the seedlings were placed under a cover glass on a slide 

 and the given liquid added. Under such circumstances the root- 

 hairs grow for several days and the process can be watched at 

 short intervals. Janse has shown that by increasing the turgor 

 in Alga? by means of plasmolytic media, growth can be made to 

 recommence after an arrest. The method of Wortmann is sub- 

 stantially a modification of Janse's and leads to similar conclu- 

 sions. As an outcome of his studies, Wortmann believes that he 

 has strengthened the theories of Sachs and of de Vries regarding 

 growth; in short, he holds that growth is the result of mechani- 

 cal turgescence brought about by the interaction of the surround- 

 ings and the interior of the vegetable cell. Some of the distortions 

 produced by varying the media, are very remarkable and indicate 

 that the field should be much further explored. G. L. G. 



4. Atlas deutscher Meeresalgen. Erstes Heft. In Verbindung 

 mit Dr. F. Schutt und P. Kuckttck bearbeitet von Dr. J. Reinke. 

 Berlin. Paul Parez, 1889. Folio, pp. 34, PI. XXV.— In his 

 recent work, Algenflora der westlichen Ostsee deutschen Antheils, 

 Professor Reinke, to the surprise of most algologists who sup- 

 posed that little new remained to be discovered on a coast which 

 had been so long known to marine botanists, showed that a re- 

 markable number of new species and even genera, especially of 

 very interesting JPhceosporece, had escaped the notice of previous 

 explorers. In that work, he gave an interesting account of the 

 new species found by him and critical notes on many others, illus- 

 trated, however, by only a few wood-cuts. The present work, 

 prepared at the request of the commission for the scientific inves- 

 tigation of the German Marine Waters in the interest of the 

 fisheries, has for its aim the scientific description and illustration 

 of Algse of which no adequate account exists in other works. 

 The first part includes twenty-nine species and varieties, among 

 them fourteen of the new species discovered by Reinke. The 

 whole work is to be completed in four parts of the size of the 

 present, but the second part will not be published as a whole 

 but will be issued in fasciculi with five plates. Botanists will 

 appreciate the enlightened spirit of the German commission in 

 entrusting to Professor Reinke the preparation of a work, which 

 is not only thoroughly scientific in its method, but also artisti- 

 cally beautiful in its presentation. The lithographic plates, in 

 part colored, are excellently drawn by Schtitt and Kuckuck and 

 the accompanying text gives a clear and well condensed descrip- 

 tion of the species figured without entering into details of struct- 

 ure and nomenclature which were more appropriately given by 

 Professor Reinke in his Algenflora, previously published. Illus- 

 trations of the new chlorosporic genera, Pringsheimia, Epicladia 

 and JBlastophysa are given, but twenty of the twenty-five plates 

 are devoted to JPhceosporece. Besides representatives of old 

 genera such as JEctocarpus, Scytosiphon, etc., we have here for 



