488 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
same is the case with the Ophioglossacese, and with Lycopodium 
inundatum. 
The following particulars are added with regard to other classes of 
Vascular Cryptogams : — -No mucilage is found in the Ophioglossacese, 
while, on the other hand, it is more widely diffused in the Lycopodiacese 
than has been supposed. Osmunda regalis and Todea barbara have, in 
connection with the vascular bundles of the leaf-stalk, cells which 
produce a mucilage containing tannin, and similar cells are found in 
many Cyatheacese. The vascular-bundle-cylinder in the cortex of the 
stem of Struthiopteris germanica belongs to the stem, and not to the leaf. 
The stem of Botrychium has a secondary growth in thickness, but 
limited to the new formation of a few tracheides. 
Dansea alata corresponds with other Marattiaceae in the anatomical 
structure of the stem (or root-stock) in all essential points. There are 
no sclerenchymatous elements, it contains mucilage - passages and 
tannin-cells, and the vascular bundles are concentric. It presents, 
however, a peculiarity in the root, in the presence, as in the leaf-stalk, 
of a closed ring of sclerenchymatous fibres, two or three rows of cells in 
thickness, a few layers below the epiderm. 
Muscineae. 
Peristome.* — M. Philibert now describes the structure of the peri- 
stome in various genera of Splachnaceae. In Splachnum the interior cells 
are thickened along the whole length of their walls, the adherence of the 
two peristomes is complete, and the internal membrane divides into 
sixteen segments. In the three other European genera of Splachnaceae 
the ordinary diplolepideous type is found. The author then describes 
the peristome of SpIacJinobryum Boivini , a member of a genus composed 
entirely of exotic species. The teeth are composed of two membranes 
joined together by a complex mass of cells arranged in several rows in 
the upper part, the internal peristome only remaining ; this is exactly the 
converse of what is found in Dissodon, Tayloria , and Tetraplodon , where 
the external peristome alone remains. 
The author then proceeds to point out the differences between the 
Nematodonteae and the Arthrodonteae, and especially describes the 
Discelieae and Leptostomeae. The family of the Discelieae, which 
consists of a single genus and single species Discelium nudum , does not 
differ greatly from Funaria in its aspect and vegetative system, the 
capsule and spores being analogous. The peristome is composed of 
sixteen regular teeth, in which the two layers can be easily distinguished. 
The curious family of Leptostomeae differs from all other known genera 
in the peristome, which is reduced to a single uniform and undivided 
membrane, representing the primitive framework from which is derived 
the double peristome of the Arthrodonteae. The author concludes by 
describing the peristome of L. macrocarpum and L. inclinans. 
Fibres in Medullary cells of Sphagnum.j — M. F. Gravet records 
the presence of fibres in the medullary cells, or cells of the central zone 
of the stem, in a small number of specimens of the immersed form of 
Sphagnum cuspidatum , and also in a form of S. recurvum . 
* Rev. Bryol., xvii. (1890) pp. 8-12, 25-9. Cf. this Journal, ante , p. 68. 
t Rev. Bryol., xvii. (1890) p. 21. 
