Wellingtonian, Lantandescens etc. All is dead and supposedly so to the middle of 

 Italy. 



You asked for a report on botanical activities and I do not know where to 

 Start. Instead of talking about " the newest" perhaps I will talk about the main 

 streams. The most valuable one is probably the one about the birth of 

 morphology which in recent decennium has been mostly cultivated on German 

 ground and lately exclusively in Germany. Once we had a serious reaction 

 against what we might call" cell-mania" . That direction had its good results but in 

 contrast to its extremes Hofmeister's formulation that the cell does not create the 

 plant but rather that the overall growth determines the cell formation is prevailing. 

 This insight and the consideration thereof as well as an embryonic attempt to 

 correlate with physiology constitutes a different form ofprogress. Another, not 

 less important form ofprogress lies in the Sharp reaction against C. Schimper's 

 spiral theory. Proofhas now been supplied from various places that the so-called 

 "gantiss" Spiral exists only in special cases and a generalization is more of an 

 alternative Solution to phenomena but not a necessary or required constructive 

 Solution. This is widely applicable and will have important consequences. Just as 

 there are other leaf positions than spiral there are also sporosystems to which 

 the schemes of the Schimpers are well fitted. The angle and ? of the Borragi- 



