r891.] Botany. 51 
the epidermis. At an early period the terminal cell of the hypoder- 
mal tissue of the young ovule is seen to be much larger than its neigh- 
bors, and is the ‘‘ archesporium’’ from which by subsequent develop- 
ment the embryo-sac is to be formed. There is first cut off from the 
archesporium a single apical cell, and this is followed by another 
division, thus making a row of three cells, the lowermost of which is 
the embryo-sac. The latter enlarges and elongates, crowding the cap- 
cells until they are mere plates. 
n the embryo-sac the nucleus divides, each part moving to an 
opposite extremity, where it divides again, and still again. At this 
Stage there are four nuclei at each end of the embryo-sac. One of 
these at the micropylar end becomes the germ-cell (egg-cell, odsphere), 
two become the synergidz, while the fourth moves downward, and, 
fusing with an ascending one from the opposite end, forms the nucleus 
of the first cell of the endosperm, After fertilization the germ-cell 
and endosperm-cell divide, forming embryo and endosperm.—CHARLES 
E. BEssEy. 
The Annual Report of the State Botanist of New York. 
—This report from C. H. Peck, bearing date of December, 1889, 
contains much of interest to the technical botanist. Many new species 
of fungi are described and figured. Of these the majority are Agari- 
cini, there being no less than eleven new species, belonging to seven 
different genera. Two new Myxomycetes are figured and described, 
viz., Comatricha longa and C. subcespitosa. An interesting Plasmo- 
para (P. viburnt) is described as occurring on Viburnum dentatum. 
The author says that it is evidently very near to P. viticola, “ of which 
it may prove to be only a variety.’’ A curious new genus allied to 
Helvella is characterized under the name of Underwoodia, in honor 
of Professor L. M. Underwood, who communicated the specimens. 
The single species (U. columnaris) is a columnar, horn-shaped “ recep- 
tacle,’’ from four to six inches in height. 
Among the “remarks and observations’’ the author says of the 
entire-leaved variety of Rhus toxicodendron, that ‘‘ it has been reported 
to me as comparatively harmless so far as poisonous quality is con- 
cerned, and my experience in handling it was entirely, without harm.”’ 
—Cuar.es E. BEssEy. 
How to Know Grasses by Their Leaves. — Professor 
McAlpine, of Edinburgh, has written a useful little book of ninety- 
two pages upon the topic given above, intending it to be a simple 
guide to the identification of the common grasses by their leaves 
