ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
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following characters : — Thallus gelatinosus, subfirmus, baud tubulosus, 
nec saccatus nec membranaceus, sed cylindricus ; cellulse similes eis 
Tetrasporse, stratum tenuissimum periphericum viride formantes ; multi- 
plicatio ut in Tetraspora. 
Urospora and Hormiscia.* — Herr F. R. Kjellman proposes to sink 
the genus Urospora in Hormiscia, the character derived from the form of 
the zoogonids not being sufficiently constant to maintain the former as a 
distinct genus. 
Movements of Eunotia major.f — Mr. T. C. Palmer describes the 
peculiar movements of frustules of this diatom, which differ from that 
known in the Pinnularieae. The frustules in which they take place are 
either free or united together in strings of from 2 to 6 ; and the move- 
ment appears to be connected with an evolution of oxygen ; it is obviously 
stimulated by light. The author connects the power of movement with 
the existence of peculiar pseudopode-like bodies, to which he gives the 
name “ coleopods,” and which appear to be present in other nearly 
related species and genera also of the Fragilariese. 
Germination of Microchaete tenera.J — Prof. G. Ritter Beck v. Man- 
nagetta has been able to follow out the formation and the germination 
of the spores of Microchsete tenera Thur. The spores occur as interstitial 
cells of a filament enclosed in a distinct hyaline sheath, often in con- 
tinuous rows. They are of an olive-brown colour, cylindrical or barrel- 
shaped, and vary greatly in size. The spore elongates and divides into 
two while still within the sheath, one of the daughter-cells becoming a 
heterocyst, the other, the vegetative cell, undergoing further divisions. 
At a later period the young plant, consisting of a basal heterocyst 
and about three vegetative cells, escapes from the sheath. Although 
the filaments present occasionally a Tolypothrix-like pseudo-ramification, 
the author considers that the organism belongs essentially to the simple 
(unbranched) Nostocacese. 
Cyanothrix and Mastigocladus.§ — Herr W. Schmidle has come to 
the conclusion that his genus Cyanothrix must be suppressed, and ab- 
sorbed in Mastigocladus. Cultivation of Cyanothrix naginata resulted 
in the production of two forms — a Hypothrix and an Anabsena- form, the 
latter also producing conids. The presence of a distinct sheath indi- 
cates that the alga belongs to the Sirosiphonaceae ; a scytonema-like 
branching was also observed, and a probable formation of hormogones. 
The author now regards Cyanothrix naginata as identical with Mastigo- 
cladus laminosus. 
B. Schizomycetes. 
Remarkable Marine Organism. || — Prof. A. Dendy describes, under 
the name Pontobolbos, a remarkable marine organism from the Gulf of 
Manaar, off the Madras coast. At first he felt certain that it was animal 
* Bill. K. Svensk. Vetensk.-Akad. Handl., xxiii. (1897) 16 pp. and 1 pi. See 
Bot. Centralbl., lxxiv. (1898) p. 176. 
t Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1898, pp. 110-9 (2 pis.). 
% Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr., xlviii. (1898) pp. 81-6 (1 pi.). 
§ Bot. Centralbl., lxiv. (1898) pp. 97-102 (11 figs.). 
U Journ. Linn. Soc. (Zool.), xxvi. (1898) pp. 143-52 (2 pis.). 
1898 ■ 2 i 
