ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
213 
The author has also followed out the life-history of Choristocarpus, 
which genus he regards as having a very close affinity with the Sphacc- 
lariacese on the one hand, and with the Tiloptcrideae on the other 
hand. 
Phycoporphyrin, a new Pigment of the Conjugatae.* — Prof. G. 
Lagerheim has extracted the pigment from several purple species of 
Conjugatae, especially Zygnema purpureum , on which he founds a new 
genus of Zygnemaceae, Pleurodiscus, with the following characters : — 
Chromatophores two, parietal or somewhat eccentric, disc-shaped ; each 
has a central pyrenoid, with an envelope of starch ; otherwise the cell 
contains no starch, the product of assimilation being probably glucose ; 
there are numerous tannin-vacuoles ; the vacuole which occupies the 
greater part of the cell is filled with a purple-brown pigment which the 
author terms phycoporphyrin. It is prepared by treating the alga with 
absolute alcohol, pressing between cloths, and then laying in distilled 
water, when the pigment is dissolved. Its optical and chemical pro- 
perties are given ; but it has not yet been obtained free from tannin. 
Trentepohliaceae and Lichens.f — Mr. A. Y. Jennings describes two 
new species of Trentepohliaceae from New Zealand, Phycopeltis expansa 
sp. n., and P. nigra sp. n., belonging to the “ peltoid ” section, which 
form cell-plates and not cell-filaments. The former species is epiphytic 
on leaves, and forms sporanges of two kinds — enlarged cells of the disc, 
and cells borne singly on a hooked pedicel supported on a single basal 
cell. In connection with fungus-hyphae it forms the lichen Strigula. 
The second species is also epiphytic on leaves, but there was no indica- 
tion of stipitate sporanges. On the leaf the alga appears quite black ; 
by transmitted light it has an olive-green colour. It exhibits no 
tendency to associate itself with a fungus in the formation of a lichen. 
Thallus of Neomeris.J — Mr. A. H. Church describes in great detail 
the structure and development of the thallus of Neomeris dumetosa. In 
its earliest stage it consists of an erect Vaucheria- like ccenocytic filament, 
attached to the substratum by a dichotomously lobed basal portion, and 
bearing at its apex a whorl of six dichotomously branched filaments, 
separated from the main axis by perforated septa. The various stages 
of development are followed out, especially the formation of the cortex 
and of the aplanosporangcs. The deposit of calcium carbonate is in 
direct relation to the energy of the assimilating process" which goes on 
in the chlorophyll-corpuscles. 
Chlamydomonas.§ — Herr E. 0. Dill contests the view that the 
various forms of Chlamydomonas represent only a very small number of 
species ; the relative position of the organs and other characters being, 
on the other hand, constant in the various forms. The following new 
species are described : — Chlamydomonas longistigma,parietaria,pisiformis, 
cingulosa, gigantea, stellata, and glceocystiformis, and Cartcria ohtusa. The 
life-history of several of these species was followed out. 
A classification is proposed of the Yolvocaceae into four families, 
* Christiania Vidensk.-Selsk. Skrifter, 1895, pp. 1-25. See Bot. Centralbl., lxiv. 
(1895) p. 115. f Rep. Brit. Ass. (Ipswich), 1895, p. 851. 
X Ann. Bot., ix. (1895) pp. 581-608 (3 pis). 
§ Jalirb. f. wiss. Bot. (PfefFer u. Strasburger), xxviii. (1S95) pp. 823-5S (1 pi.). 
1896 Q 
