1885.] Botany, 303 
able feature about the discovery is the fact that it pertains to 
pteridophytes of as low a type as the ferns of the Polypodiacee. 
If it occurs there, may we not look for it confidently in the Lyco- 
pods, and especially in the Selaginella, It may be worth giving 
a good deal of attention to a careful examination of the green- 
house grown plants of the various species of Selaginella. Apo- 
spory in these would possess many interesting features. Who 
will search for it ? 
Tue History or Discovery IN Ferns.—Mr. W. T. T. Dyer 
gives, in Nature, a summary of the progress of discovery with 
respect to the structure of the reproductive apparatus of the 
erns. It is of so much interest that we reproduce it here: 
1507 GOtarGes Se issons -+...-Observed seedling plants near parents. 
3045. Gessi css ios’ ror Sporangia, 
1669 Cole Spores 
1686 Ray. .....Hygroscopic movements of sporangia. 
1735 Monson. cx Wie ive be ees Raised seedlings from spores. 
1788 Ehrhart i 
1789 Lindsay Germination of spores. 
1827 Kaulfuss Development of prothallium. 
1844 Nägeli... J.. ven NET Antheridia. 
1846 Suminski Archegonia 
10a ROTMOW souenha a Apogamy, 
1884 Bruery eseria ....Apospory. 
What better illustration do we need of the slowness of dis- 
covery ? 
De Bary’s COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF VEGETATIVE ORGANS.— 
Between seven and eight years ago there appeared a most valuable 
contribution to the literature of histological botany from the pen 
of the great Strassburg professor. In its German form it has 
been familiar to workers in botanical laboratories, and has been 
of great service. Now we have an English translation by F. O. 
Bower and D. H. Scott, which has been brought out under the 
title of Comparative Anatomy of the vegetative organs of the 
Phanerogams and Ferns, by the Clarendon Press in England, and 
placed before the American public by the New York house of 
Macmillan & Co. In its English form it consists of about 675 
octavo pages, having the general appearance both in type, illus- 
trations, r and binding of the well-known English editions 
of Sachs’ Text Book. ae : 
For the benefit of those who are not familiar with the work, we 
give here its general contents: 
Part I. THE Forms OF TISSUE. 
Chap. 1. Cellular Tissue. (i) epidermis, (ii) cork, (iii) parenchyma. 
1 11, Sclerenchyma. 
"Vib Appendix. Intercellular spaces. 
