NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



899 



of light, and lastly the flower as a whole is capable of special movements, 

 regulated not merely by the curvature of the pedicel but by the action of 

 the pulvinus or joint situated at a short distance below the flower." The 

 observations, which extend over two seasons, are principally on the move- 

 ments of the flower-bud and flowers up to the time of the setting of the 

 fruit, but all the positions assumed by the organs above referred to are 

 illustrated. Kerner's description of the effect of rain on the flowers is 

 quoted. He says : " The flowers are inverted and their anthers are turned 

 towards the ground and covered over by the petals. When the flower is 

 open, however, the petals are slightly tilted back, i.e. upwards. The 

 margins of the petals overlap one another, and their outer surfaces, which 

 in consequence of the inverted position of the flower are uppermost, thus 

 form a basin open to the sky. When it rains this basin placed above the 

 anthers fills with water, thus adding to the weight borne by the stalk, 

 and as drop after drop increases the strain upon the latter, a point is at 

 length reached when the basin tips over, letting the water flow over its 

 edges without wetting the stamens suspended beneath it." . . . "But if 

 the rain is long continued or very heavy the stamens eventually get 

 wetted." Some experiments were tried with chloroform, and its effect 

 seems to have been to make the buds and flowers lose all count of time. 

 " A bud, after recovering from chloroform, often missed out several stages 

 of its development, another would grow a long style as if it were a two- 

 day-old flower, while an open flower would take up the position of a fruit, 

 or fall oft' at the joint, as if it were a ripe fruit." It struck the authoress 

 that the inflorescence would be admirably adapted for an experiment with 

 the kinematograph. There were difficulties, and the authoress describes 

 these and how they were got over. Experiments extended over a year, and 

 recently fairly good results were obtained. Sixty-six illustrations are 

 given. The paper is extremely interesting, and some important points 

 cannot here be referred to. — B. I. L. 



Spathoglottis Hardingiana. By R. A. Rolfe (Bot. Mag. t. 7964). 

 Native of North Burma. Nat. ord. Orchidacece ; tribe Epidendrece. A 

 distinct species in having the lip reduced to a long linear form and bearing 

 a pair of small yellow auricles. Flowers rose-purple or pale lilac, about 

 1 inch diam., on a slender raceme. — G. H. 



Spirogyra-nueleus, Pathological Enlargement of. By J- J. 



Gerassimow (Beih. Bot. Cent, xviii. Abt. i. p. 45-119 ; 2 plates). — (lives a 

 very detailed account, with measurements, of the enlargement and 

 diminution in size of Spirogyra nuclei. Either extreme is injurious. In 

 enlarged nuclei, the number of chromosomes may be twice or four times 

 the usual one. Those with enlarged nuclei are formed by division of a 

 mother-cell of which the other half has no nucleus. The enlargement of 

 the nucleus produces an increase in the diameter of the cell. — G. F. S.-E. 



Spore-formation in Leptosporangiate Ferns. By R. P. 



Gregory (Ann. Bot. xviii. July 1904, pp. 445-456; 1 plate, 1 text fig.).— 

 An account of a cytological investigation of the spore-formation in ten 

 species of Leptosporangiate Ferns. 



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