178 General Notes. [ March, 
ternate leaves was $, falling into the series 4, }, #, Pr Fy 5, etc. In 
a few cones with opposite scales it was 3%, falling into a series given 
above. In a few others in whorls of three the fraction was 4%; in 
one cone the scales were in whorls of four. How many additional 
forms may be found on examining large numbers of specimens he did 
not know, but presumed we had not yet found them all. On all the 
trees examined, he had found the spiral whorls of the scales to vary; 
that certain spirals ran to the right in part of the cones, and to the left 
in about the same number on each tree in each year; that in all cases 
examined there was quite a variety in the phyllotaxis of each tree. So 
he had found it on many herbaceous plants. 
As we might expect, there was no one, fixed, undeviating plan for the 
arrangement of all the leaves on plants of any species; we should find 
exceptions to our rules if we examine specimens enough. 
BoranicaL Notes FROM Recent PERIODICALS. — Flora. (No new 
numbers have been received since our last review.) 
Botanische Zeitung, No. 43. O. Behrendsen, Contributions to the 
Flora of Hungary. No. 44. E. Stahl, On the Artificial Formation of 
Protonemata from the Sporogonium of Musci. (In true mosses the pro- 
tonema is a tubular outgrowth from the spore. This minute tube elon- 
ates by growth at the tip, and afterwards branches. Pringsheim has 
shown (1876) that protonematous threads may be produced from the 
severed fruit-stalk of mosses. This is now confirmed by Stahl, who also 
shows its bearing upon alternation of generation, and examines its rela- 
tions to Dr. Farlow’s interesting discovery of an asexual growth on the 
prothallus of ferns.) Cramer, Note claiming Priority of Discovery re- - 
specting Reproduction in Ulothrix. Reports of Societies. Nos. 45 and 
46 previously noticed. No. 47. Fickel, On the Anatomy and Develop- 
ment of the Seed-Coats of some Oucurbitacee. Continued in Nos. 48, 
49, and 50. No. 51. Dr. Drude, On the Separation of the Palms of 
America from those of the Old World. 
ZOOLOGY. 
A New Svus-Kinepom or ANIMALS. — Prof. E. Van Beneden in 
his elaborate “ Recherches sur les Dicyemides, Survivants actuels d'un 
Embranchement des Mésozoaires” proposes a new sub-kingdom of an- 
imals. In 1830 Krohn observed the presence in the liquid bathing the 
spongy bodies (perhaps renal organs) of different species of Cephalopods 
certain filiform bodies, covered with vibratile cilia and resembling infu- 
soria or ciliated worms. They were called Dicyema by Kölliker, who, 
with others, considered them as intestinal worms ; Van Beneden claims 
that they have no general body-cavity. The body is formed (1) of a 
large-axial cylindrical or fusiform cell, which extends from the anterior 
extremity of the body, enlarged into a head, to the caudal extremity ; 
. (2) of a single row of flat cells forming around the axial cell a sort of 
