1877.] Botany. 239 
The Valorous Expedition! Reports by Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys and Dr. Carpen 
(From the Proceedings of the Royal Beciasrs Vol. xxv. No. 173.) With chart a 
Sections. London. 1876. 8vo, pp 
Check List of the Fishes of the Pat Waters of North America. By David S. 
Jordan and Herbert E. pice (From the Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Nat- 
The Fourth Annual rites ie the Board of Directors of the Zodlogical Society of 
Philadelphia. 1876. p. 3 
Catalogue of the publications $ the U. S. Geological and Geographical Surv y of 
the Territories. F. V. Hayden, Geologist-in-Charge. Second Edition. (Revised to 
December 31, 1876.) Washington, D. C. 1877. 8vo, pp. 38. 
Remarks on some Algæ found on the Water Supplies of the City of Boston. By 
W. G. Farlow. (Extracted from the Bulletin of the Bussey Institution. January, 
1877.) 8yo, pp. 8 
Geological Survey of New Jersey. Annual Report of the State Geologist, for the 
year 1876. Trenton, New Jersey. 1876. 8vo, pp. 56. _ 
New York Aquarium Journal and Guide. Illustrated. New York. 
GENERAL NOTES. 
BOTANY.! 
On THE PASSAGE or PLASMA THROUGH LivING UNPERFORATED 
Membranes, sy M. Cornu.—The transfer of elaborated matters in 
cells presents many difficulties ; in many cases osmosis alone is an inad- 
equate explanation; it has been thought necessary to assume solution 
and recomposition of the substance, as in the case of starch. t the 
transfer of starch takes place in this way has been apparently admitted 
as the result of Mer’s researches. Does plasma pass in the same way 
through the cell wall, having become first dissolved? Cornu thinks 
that it is transferred without solution, and bases his conclusion on his 
study of the germination of the spores of one of the Mucedineæ. In 
this case the plasma passes directly through the wall without rupturing 
it. The details of this most interesting observation are given in Comptes 
Rendus, January 15, 1877. 
HELLODENDRON. — The list of exotic trees capable of withstanding 
the severities of the New England climate is not a long one, and any 
addition to it is a cause for congratulation, especially when, as in the 
case of Phellodendron Amurense,’ the new-comer is extremely orna- 
mental, and of rapid growth. Two plants of this Phellodendron, raised 
om seed in the Harvard Botanic Garden many years ago, are now 
some fifteen feet high, and have flowered the past summer for the first 
time; and as they have been fully exposed during ten or fifteen years, 
hardiness in our climate would seem to be beyond doubt. The 
flowers of Phellodendron are dicecious, but by a piece of remarkable 
good fortune the two plants bore flowers of the two sexes, and an 
1 Conducted by Pror. G. L. GOODALE. 
2 Rupurt and Maxim., Fl. Amus. t. 4. 
S 
