220 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
B. CBYPTOGAMIA. 
Cryptogamia Vascularia. 
Hybrid Fern.* — Prof. J. B. Farmer describes the structure of a 
hybrid obtained between Polypodium aureum and P. vulgar e elegantissi - 
mum. In its general habit of growth and in the scaly rachis, the hybrid 
has a closer resemblance to the former ; in the general appearance of the 
frond a closer resemblance to the latter species. Attempts to germinate 
the spores were unsuccessful. 
Spencerites, a new Fossil Genus of Lycopodiacese. f — From 
Lower Coal Measures near Halifax, Dr, D. H. Scott has obtained some 
Lycopodiaceous cones, from which he establishes the new genus Spen- 
cerites, separated from Lepidostrobus mainly on account of the very 
different mode of insertion of the sporanges, a character which is accom- 
panied by differences in the form of the sporophvlls, the structure of 
the sporangial walls and of the spores, and in the whole habit of the 
strobilus. 
Muscineae. 
Development of the Archegone of the Muscinese.l — M. L. A. Gayet 
has examined the structure and the development of the archegone in the 
various orders of Muscineae, and has arrived at the following general 
conclusions : — The archegone of the Hepaticse develops not only by 
intercalary, but also by terminal growth. In the Musci this terminal 
growth contributes greatly to the elongation of the female organ. The 
terminal or “ lid-cell ” does not give rise to neck-canal-cells, either in 
the Hepaticas or in ths Musci ; the neck-canal-cells have all the same 
origin, always proceeding from an initial detached from the mother-cell 
of the oosphere. 
The mode of development of the archegone in the Anthoceroteae 
differs so widely from that of other Muscineae that the author proposes 
to erect them into a family co-ordinate with the Hepaticae and Musci, and 
intermediate between the latter and the Pteridophyta. It has four canal- 
cells which may be compared to the single canal-cell of Pteris with four 
nuclei. The archegone opens simply by separation of the terminal cells, 
not by their destruction and rupture. 
In Sphserocarpus the archegone has five rows of neck-cells, but is 
sessile, indicating an intermediate position between the Jungermannieae 
and the Biccieas ; two ventral canal-cells were sometimes observed. In 
the Marchantiaceae the number of canal-cells is eight. In exceptional 
cases the ventral canal-cell may be impregnated instead of the oosphere. 
The Andreseaceae present no variation from other families of Musci in the 
development of the archegone, notwithstanding the difference in the 
dehiscence of the capsule. 
New Genera of Musci. — In addition to a large number of new 
species, Herr C. Muller describes the following five new genera of 
* Ann. of Bot., xi. (1897) pp. 533-44 (2 pis.), 
f Phil. Trans. K.S., clxxxix. (1897) pp. 83-106 (4 pis.). 
t Ann. Sci. Nat. (Bot.), iii. (1897) pp. 161-258 (7 pis.). 
