548 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
united for a considerable distance. The normal course of tbe bundles is 
maintained also in those flowers in which the number of parts of the 
flower is changed by cohesion or chorisis. 
Underground Fruits.* * * § — Sig. L. Pampaloni distinguishes two classes 
of plants which mature their fruits underground, amphicarpogenous and 
hypocarpogenous. In the former the flower is produced above-ground, 
and by some mechanical contrivance, the seed-vessel is buried in the 
soil before ripening ; in the latter the flowers as well as the seed-vessels 
are produced underground. To the former class belong Vida amplii- 
carpa , Lathyrus amphicarpus, Cardamine chenopodifolia , Polygala poly- 
gama, and Scrophularia arguta. Under the latter class he names thirteen 
species, belonging to seven different natural orders, viz. : — Amphicarpsea 
monoica , Arachis hypogsea, Astragalus hypogseus, Trifolium subterraneum, 
Trigonella Aschersoniana, Voandzeia subterranea (Leguminosae), Geococcus 
pusillus , Morisia hypogsea (Oruciferae), Cyclamen europseum (Primulaceae), 
Ohenia hypogsea (Nyctagineae), Nephrophyllum abyssinicum (Convolvu- 
laceae), Amphicarpum Purshii (Gramineae), and Ceratanthera Beaumetzii 
(Zingiberaceae). 
Fruit and Seed of Viscum.t — Herr G. Gjokic states that the threads 
of viscin which are formed when mistletoe berries are opened, are the 
membranes of cells which have been artificially drawn out. They give 
all the staining reactions of cellulose. The mucilage which surrounds 
the hypocotyl of the seedling is not identical with viscin ; it is stained 
yellow by chlor-zinc-iodide, and a beautiful red by ruthenium sesqui- 
cliloride. The lignified elements of the endocarp of Viscum album are 
reticulated cells and spiral vessels. The cells of the endocarp of tropical 
species of Viscum {articulatum and orientate) are neither lignified nor 
reticulately thickened. The exceptionally strong protection of the 
seeds of the mistletoe against evaporation, which enables them to germi- 
nate even in the exsiccator, depends on the development of a thick- 
walled cuticularised epiderm to the endosperm, covered by a thick coat 
of wax. The tropical species have no such contrivance. 
Fruit of Argania Sideroxylon.j: — According to M. M. Cornu, the 
seed and fruit of this species differ in several respects from those of 
typical Sapotaceae, both in the structure of the seed itself, and in the 
placentation. The seed contains a number of laticiferous cells, some 
of which branch in an arborescent manner, while some become sclerified. 
The mature seed is enclosed in a thick hard testa, resulting from a 
special layer of the ovary itself. 
Ovule and Seed of Hydnoraceae.§ — According to M. P. van Tieghem, 
the ovules of Prosopanche are not, as stated by de Bary, reduced to an 
embryo-sac imbedded directly in the parenchyme of the placenta, but 
resemble those of typical Hydnoraceae in being orthotropous and integu- 
mented. The embryo-sac, or mother-cell of the endosperm, contains an 
oosphere, two synergids, and three antipodals. The ovules are imbedded 
in, but not completely surrounded by, the placental parenchyme. The 
* Bull. Soc. Bot. I tal., 1897, pp. 190-3. 
t SB. K. Akad. Wiss. Wien, cv. (1896) pp. 447-64 (1 pi.), 
j Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xliv. (1897) pp. 181-7 (5 figs.). 
§ Journ. de Bot. (Morot), xi. (1897) pp. 233-8 (1 fig.). 
