Ill 



stances, a rate of ascent of 40 inches per hour can be obtained. 

 2. That, contrary to the generally received opinion, direct exper- 

 iment has shown that the upward rapid current of water does not 

 cease in the evening. 3. That checking the transpiration for a 

 short time by placing the branch in darkness does not materially 

 impede the rapid current of water. 4. That the removal of the 

 cortical tissues does not impede the rapid current in the stem, 

 which moves only through the woody (xyleus) portion of the fibre- 

 vascular bundles. 5. That a well-marked rapid flow of fluid will 

 take place in a stem a^er the removal of the leaves. 6. That 

 fluid will rapidly flow downwards as well as upwards in the wood 

 (xyleus) portion of the fibro-vascular bundles, as seen in a branch 

 in which lithium citrate was applied at the top. 7. That pres- 

 sure of mercury does not exert any very marked influence on the 

 rapidity of flow, in the one experiment made with a pressure of 

 110-53 grammes of mercury. — A.' W. B. 



The Resurrection Fern. — Pohjpodium incanium, the com- 

 monest of all the ferns of Florida, is often called the resurrection 

 fern. It grows mostly upon the trunks and branches of the oaks, 

 and I have seen the roofs cf old buildings covered with it. 

 During dry weather it Bhrivela up, and has the appearance of 

 being dead. While in this condition I secured some, wrapped 

 them up in paper, and sent them in April last to Cambridge. On 

 my return to that place in September last, the plants, after having 

 moist moss placed about their roots, were secured to blocks of 

 oak wood hung up in the greenhouse of the Botanic Garden. 

 The leaves unfolded and assumed a bright green color. They 

 now appear to be in a healthy condition. — E. Palmer. 



The True Process of Respiration in Plants. — M. Claude 

 Bernard pointed out long ago that the process ordinarily described 

 as that of respiration in vegetables, the decomposition of the C0 2 

 of the atmosphere, is not properly of this nature at all, but is 

 rather a process of digestion; the true process of respiration 

 being of a precisely similar character in the animal and vegetable 

 kingdoms, viz., an oxidation of the carbonaceous matters of the 

 tissues. M. Corenwinder of Lille in France, has recently con- 

 even when concealed by the greater activity of the decomposition 



