480 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
(4) Structure of Organs. 
Structure of the Olive.* * * § — Sig. A. Bottini gives a detailed descrip- 
tion of the structure of the ripe drupe of the olive, distinguishing the 
characteristics of several Italian varieties. The minute warty ex- 
crescences found on the surface of the ripe fruit are lenticels, each of 
which was originally a stomate ; the passage from one to the other can 
be readily followed by examining the fruit at different stages of de- 
velopment. The mesocarp consists of a spongy parenchyme, the cells 
of which have very thick walls ; interspersed among these are sclero- 
tized cells, with greatly thickened and hardened cell-walls, the pro- 
portion of which to the thin-walled tissue varies greatly in different 
varieties. The oil is found in the whole of the mesocarp except the 
lenticels and the sclerenchyme, almost filling up the cell-cavities. The 
pigment of the olive is dissolved in large quantities in the cell-sap. 
White Bilberries.^ — In opposition to the view of Woronin,| Herren 
P. Ascherson and P. Magnus maintain that the white variety of the 
bilberry, Vaccinium Myrtillus var. leucocarpum , is distinct from the 
diseased berry caused by the attacks of Sclerotinia baccarum, and that 
it is an example of the albinism which is not uncommon in fruits, as, 
for example, in the white currant. 
Fruit of Aurantiaceae.§ — Sig. L. Savastano has determined that the 
splitting which is so common a phenomenon in the fruits of the 
Aurantiaceae, especially in the orange, and in those of some other fruits, 
such as stone-fruits, the pear, fig, pomegranate, &c., is the result of the 
excessive absorption of water by the protoplasm, and of the small 
resistance offered by the cell-walls to compression from the tissue of the 
sarcocarp. 
Seed of the Hemp.|| — Prof. L. Macchiati gives a minute description 
of the anatomical structure and the phenomena of germination of the 
seeds of Cannabis saliva. The points to which he calls special attention 
are the great inequality in the size of the two cotyledons, which becomes 
more conspicuous after germination, and the entire absence of starch 
from the embryo, the cells of which are filled with oily substances and 
grains of aleurone ; the proteid crystalloids of these aleurone-grains 
are insoluble in cold water, but dissolve readily in water slightly 
acidulated. 
Pitchers of Insectivorous Plants.l" — Beferring to the observations 
of Dr. Macfarlane,** Prof. F. O. Bower adduces additional reasons for 
regarding the lid of the pitcher of Nepenthes as resulting from the 
coalescence of the only pair of pinnae formed on the winged pliyllopode ; 
and for concluding that in Sarracenia the leaf is throughout a simple 
phyllopode, the lid being merely its flattened terminal portion, and the 
* Nuov. Giorn. Bot. Ital., xxi. (1889) pp. 369-81 (2 pis.). 
t Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., vii. (1890) pp. 387-400 (1 fig.). 
J Cf. this Journal, 1889, p. 263. 
§ Boll. Soc. Nat. Napoli, iii. (1889) pp. 273-88. 
|| Nuov. Giorn. Bot. Ital., xxii. (1890) pp. 58-63. 
II Ann. of Bot., iv. (1890) pp. 165-8 (3 figs.). ** Cf. this Journal, 1889, p. 779. 
