ges) ss Re est re Stes eee hy ees Re en ea n 
1883.] Botany. 543 
up the stem or root. On the other hand, in the flowering plants, 
it has always been held that the growing point was made up in- 
variably of a group of cells. We had thus a marked difference 
which seemed to draw a sharp line between the flowering an 
flowerless plants. It is true that in the ringless ferns (Marattia- 
ceæ) of the tropics, and the adder tongues (Ophioglossaceæ), 
he growing point in the root is a group of cells, thus making a 
slight exception to the law, but in all these plants the stems de- 
velop from a single apical cell. So well established did this differ- 
ence appear that in our “ Botany for High Schools and Colleges,” 
this sentence occurs (p. 87): “In the phanerogams the primary 
meristem is developed from a group of cells, instead of from a 
single one; they therefore have no apical cell.” 
We have now, however, the announcement by Dingler, in a re- 
cent paper (Ueber d. Scheitelwachstum des Gy p Stammes), 
that by making careful sections of the stems of seedling gymno- 
sperms and rendering them transparent by maceration in water or 
by the use of potash, he was able to make out the presence of an 
apical cell in quite a number of instances. Thus an apical cell 
was well made out in a species of Ceratozamia, one of the Cyca- 
ez. It was also seen in the Norway spruce (Picea excelsa), in 
Pinus mops and Cupressus pyramidalis. In a single instance an 
apical cell was detected in a species of Ephedra, but as other ob- 
servations failed to verify this, its occurrence may be doubted. 
i that disappearing structures may persist in the embryo or early 
ife long after they have ceased to occur in the adult—C. £. 
Bessey, 
endent on the mode in which it obtains its nourishment Four. 
“yal Mic, Soc., Feb., 1883. 
_ A Government Duty.—The Government has long recognized 
h 
A of providing means for the careful and exhaustive study 
insects which are injurious to the crops of the e 
grower, etc. It has appointed eminent scientinc 
= eet, ee ee i 
Men to devote their strength and time to the investigation of in- 
