360 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
as Buxbaumia. Through such prothallium forms as that of T. sinuosim 
we then advance to that of Hymenophyllum , and then to that of typical 
ferns. 
Muscineae. 
Cyathophorum.* — Dr. U. Brizi describes the structure of Cyatho- 
phorum pennatum, belonging to the Hypopterygiaceae, which is found 
chiefly on tree-ferns in the southern hemisphere. This moss carries on 
a saprophytic existence, obtaining its nutriment from the humus in 
which it grows, by means of cup-like organs of suction attached to the 
rhizoids, or sometimes by the rhizoids themselves penetrating into the 
tissue of leaves and through the stomates or other openings ; and it 
appears to pass then from a saprophytic to a parasitic mode of life not 
hitherto recorded in the case of mosses. In structure the aerial branches 
and the rhizomes are strongly differentiated from one another. In 
the branches the hypodermal stereome is weak, while the epiderm itself 
is strongly sclerenchysed. The leaves consist of only a single layer 
of cells, each cell with only a single vermiform chloroplast. The 
vaginule, together with the base of the pedicel, is enormously swollen, 
forming a reserve-system of food-material. The peristome is furnished 
with a well-developed aquiferous system. 
Rabenhorst’s Cryptogamic Flora of Germany (Musci). — The most 
recently published parts of this work (19-21) complete the account of 
the European Bryacese. The sub-genus Eubryum includes 73 species, 
grouped under four heads, syncecious, polygamous, autcecious, and 
dioecious. The family closes with the new genus Rhodobryum , con- 
stituted out of Schimper’s section Platyphyllum, with one species. The 
family Mniaceae is made up of the two genera Mnium (23 species), and 
Cinclidium (5 species) ; the Meeseacese of three European genera, PaZw- 
della (1 species), Amblyodon (1 species), and Meesea (4 species). 
Characese. 
Antherozoids of Chara.f — Herr R. Franze has examined the struc- 
ture of the antherozoids of Chara fragilis, and confirms, in all essential 
points, the observations of Schottlander.J Each antherozoid consists of 
an axial filament, which is surrounded by two spiral threads, and the 
whole structure is enveloped by an extremely delicate membrane. The 
structure is, therefore, closely analogous to that of the spermatozoa of 
mammals, as described by Ballowitz.§ Both the spiral threads and the 
axial filament appear to be elastic. In the nucleus of the mother-cell, 
while still in an early stage of development, spiral lines can be seen, 
which appear to mark the origin of the coils of the mature organ, the 
antherozoid being derived chiefly from the nucleus of the mother-cell. 
The antherozoids of Chara fragilis are therefore spirosparts, elementary 
constituents of the protoplasm and of the nucleus which have become 
free. 
Rabenhorst’s Cryptogamic Flora of Germany (Characese). — Parts 
7 and 8 of Dr. W. Migula’s monograph of the German Characese are 
* Atti It. Accad. Lincei, ii. (1893) pp. 102-9. 
t Bot. Centralbl., liii. (1893) pp. 273-G (5 figs.). 
X Cf. this Journal, ante , p. 203. § Cf. this Journal, 1891, p. 580. 
