ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
91 
Pellia.* * * § — Treating of the European species of this genus of Hepatic®, 
Herr J. B. Jack points out that the organs described as elaters are fre- 
quently elaterophores. In Pellia epiphylla one finds at the base of the 
sporange 20-30 brown sacs, united at their base into a compact column 
about 1 mm. in height. Each sac has from 1 to 4 brown spiral bands ; 
the true elaters are borne at the end of these sacs. In the sporange of 
P. calycina there are often as many as 100 pale yellow elaterophores at 
the base of the sporange, in the form of long threads, which are not 
united together. They are also surrounded by a spiral fibre, the net of 
the membrane being very thin, and difficult of detection without a stain- 
ing reagent. 
Algae. 
Calcareous Pebbles formed by Algse.t — Mr. G. Murray and Mr. E. 
Grove describe the structure of calcareous pebbles found in a lake in 
Michigan. In addition to the calcareous incrustation, they consist of a 
weft of filaments composed apparently of various species of Schizothrix , 
among which S. fasciculata was recognised. These were accompanied 
by no less than 80 species of diatoms. 
De Toni’s Sylloge Algarum (Fucoide8e)4 — The third volume of 
this most important work is occupied entirely with the Fucace® and 
the l’h®ophyce®, grouped together under the name Fucoide®, and 
includes descriptions of upwards of 1000 species, of which nearly 200 
belong to the genus Sargassum. The Fucoide® are divided into three 
orders : — The Cyclosporin® (Sargassace®, Fucace®, Himanthaliace®, 
and l)urvill®ace®) ; the Tetrasporiu®, conterminous with the Dictyo- 
tace® ; and the Ph®ozoosporin®, which are classified under 24 families. 
Sori of Macrocystis and Postslsia.§ — Miss A. L. Smith and Miss F. 
G. Whitting describe the structure and distribution of the sori in these 
genera of Fucace®. In M. pyrifera the sporanges occur in longitudinal 
sori in the hollow part of the furrow of the fertile leaves, which closely 
resemble the vegetative leaves, except in the absence of air-bladders. 
In P. palmseformis all the fronds are sporophylls, and at certain points 
the whole furrow is lined with a dense mass of sporanges and typical 
paraph yses. 
Hew Ph.3eosporese.|| — Herr P. Kuckuck describes a number of new 
alg® from the Western Baltic, especially Milcrosyphar Zosterse g. et sp. n., 
Ectocarpus criniger sp. n., Ascocyclus orbicularis , Pliseostroma pustulosum , 
and P. Bertholdi. The following is the diagnosis of the new genus 
Mikrosyphar : — 'l’hallus composed of monosiphonous somewhat branched 
creeping filaments, sometimes coalescing into a pseud oparenchyme ; 
vegetative cells usually twice as long as broad, enclosing 1—2 discoid 
chromatophores ; hairs present or not ; propagation by swarmspores, 
each one formed from the entire contents of a vegetative cell ; uni- or 
plurilocular sporanges. Pliseostroma , of which a new diagnosis is given, 
is referred to the 1'unctariace®. 
* Flora, Ixxxi. (1895) Erganz.-Bd., pp. 1-16 (1 pi.), 
t Phycol. Mem. (Murray), 1895, pp. 74-83 (1 pi.), 
t Vol. iii., 638 pp., Patavii, 1895. 
§ Phycol. Mem. (Murray), 1895, pp. 84-7 (1 pi.). 
1| But. Ztg., liii. (1895) l‘° Abth., pp. 175-87 (2 pis. and 2 figs.). 
