212 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
attention, in describing transverse sections, to the distinction of the 
elements, or to the heterogeneous nature of their contents. Dr. Blass 
asserts that after decortication the contents of the sieve-tubes are iden- 
tical above and below the decorticated portion. His critic, however, 
deems the observations on this subject to be incomplete. 
Laticiferous System of Fumariaceae.* — One of the characters 
hitherto relied on as separating the Fumariaceas from the nearly allh d 
Papaveraceas is the absence of the laticiferous system so characteristic 
of the latter order. M. L. J. Leger shows that this distinction can no 
longer be maintained, although the nature of the latex is in general 
different from that of the Papaveraceae. The laticiferous elements, 
which were found in all species of Fumariacese examined, take the 
form either of cells indistinguishable from those which surround them, or 
of more elongated cells, or of cylindrical or prismatic tubes with walls 
of their own, but never septated or branched. They occur in all 
organs of the plant, — in the root, hypocotyl, stem, leaves, bracts, 
calyx, corolla, and ovary ; in the medullary parenchyme, the phloem of 
the vascular bundles, the cortical parenchyme, &c. The latex is usually 
limpid, without granules or globules, and of a gooseberry-red colour ; 
but, in some species, as Fumaria capreolata and speciosa, it becomes 
yellow in the adult plant. On the other hand, some species of Tapa- 
veraceae, e. g. Eschscholtzia californica and tenuifolia , as well as Hypecoum 
procumbens, intermediate between the two orders, have a red limpid latex 
resembling that of the Fumariaceae. 
Reserve-receptacles in the Buds of the Ash.j — From the structure 
of the bud-scales of Frcixinus excelsior , Herr F. Schaar draws the con- 
clusion that they serve not merely for protection, but also as a supply 
of reserve food-material. The tissue which serves this purpose is a 
thick-walled parenchyme, the thickening-layers of which are absorbed, 
as the buds unfold, in the same way as a thick-walled endosperm-tissue. 
A similar nutritive tissue is found also at the point of insertion of the 
bud ; and beneath the bud, in the pith of the branch, a local reservoir of 
starch, which disappears in the spring. The same is probably true of 
all buds the scales of which contain a thick-walled parenchyme. 
(4) Structure of Org-ans. 
Morphology of the Coniferse.J — Dr. M. T. Masters reviews in 
detail some points in the comparative morphology, anatomy, and life- 
history of the Coniferse. The forms which have been described as 
constituting a distinct genus under the name Eetinospora are only stages 
in the life-history of certain species of Chamsecyparis, Thuja , and 
Juniperus, and may possibly be the origin of new species. The number 
of cotyledons varies between two and as many as eighteen, and is incon- 
stant, not only in some genera, but even in different individuals of the 
same species. Their usual form is linear or linear-oblong ; the stomates 
on the cotyledons vary greatly in number ; they are usually oval, with 
* Comptes Rendus, cxi. (1890) pp. 843-6. 
f SB. K. Akad. Wiss. Wien, xeix. (1890) pp. 291-309 (1 pi.). 
X Joum. Linn. Soc. (Bot.), xxvii. (1890) pp. 226-332 (29 figs.). 
