NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



765 



Celastrineae, Anatomy of and Latex in. By August Mete 

 (Wiirzburg) (Beih. Bot. Cent. xv. pp. 359 300).— (lives a full description 

 of the anatomical details of seventy-two species and thirteen varieties of 

 twenty-nine genera belonging to this order, as also of the anomalous 

 genus Siphonodon. Glandular hairs are wholly wanting. Sometimes 

 hairs are absent. Hypoderm is only found in a few genera. The leaves 

 are almost always bifacial. Calcium oxalate is found in all the species. 

 The existence of caoutchouc, first mentioned by Badlkofer in 1893, is now 

 found to be by no means unusual. Tubular caoutchouc-holding cells 

 occur in twenty-one species of Ilippocrateacece, and in nine species*bf 

 Celastrincce. There are also, in the leaf parenchyma of some thirteen 

 species, cells containing caoutchouc or guttapercha-like bodies. But in 

 EiLonymus this was only found in one species and not in two others. 

 Tannin is frequently found in special cells or cell groups. The leaf of 

 each species is fully described anatomically. — G. F. S.-E. 



Cellulose in the Xylem of Woody Stems, On the Occurrence 



of. By M. C. Potter (Ann. Bot. xviii. Jan. 1904, pp. 121-140 ; 1 plate).— 

 The author finds a gelatinous thickening layer, which gives a cellulose 

 reaction, to occur very commonly though irregularly in the fibre-walls of 

 the xylem in a number of trees. 



Lignin substances extracted from the xylem by water are destroyed 

 by certain micro-organisms, and these flourish more vigorously in the 

 sap-wood than in the heart- wood extracts. This point suggests that the 

 heart-wood contains some substances not readily attacked by fungi or 

 bacteria, and accounts for the fact of its greater durability. 



The presence of this unlignified layer in the wood-fibres probably 

 represents a stage of arrested development. The delignification cannot be 

 entirely attributed to an enzyme secreted by fungi. — A. D. C. 



Cembran Pine Bark-Beetle. By C. Keller (Nat. Zeit. Laud-Forst. 

 i. pp. 337-342 ; 3 figs. ; 1903). — After reviewing existing literature, the 

 author gives his observations on Tomicus ccmbrce Heer, in Switzerland. 

 Interesting details are given of the way in which the insect tunnels under 

 the bark and in the sap-wood. The larva; of the camel-neck fly 

 (Baphidia) are recorded as destroying the bark beetle. — W. G. S. 



Cembran Pine Bark-blister. By H. C. Schellenberg (Nat. Zeit. 

 Land-Forst. ii. pp. 233-211 ; 2 figs. ; 1904). — Certain rust-fungi with an 

 flecidial stage known as Peridermium cause leaf-blister and bark-blister 

 on species of Pinus. One of these, Peridermium strobi Kleb. (with its 

 teleutospore stage on species of Bibes under the name Cronartium ribi- 

 cola), is the cause of a bark-blister on Weymouth Pine (Pinus Strobus), 

 and has been observed all over Europe, including Britain. In the United 

 States, the home of the Weymouth Pine, neither the Peridermium nor 

 the Cronartium has been found. Peridermium strobi has also been 

 observed on the Cembran Pine in Russia, and the author confirms this 

 by new observations in the Engadine of Switzerland. The Cronartium 

 stage occurred near the affected Pines on Bibes alpinum and B. petrreum, 

 and both stages are figured. A theory is advanced that Peridermium 



