ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
535 
BOTANY. 
A. GENERAL, including the Anatomy and Physiology 
of the Phanerogamia. 
a. Anatomy. 
(1) Cell-structure and Protoplasm. 
Division of the Nucleus.* — Further instalments of M. C. Degagny’s 
observations — chiefly on Spirogyra setiformis, nitida , and crassa — relate 
mainly to the part played by the filament in the division of the nucleus, 
and to the phenomena which precede and follow the disappearance of 
the nuclear membrane. He claims to have established the fact that the 
filament commences its activity from the beginning of the phenomena 
of division, before any modification has taken place in the nuclear 
membrane. In S. setiformis , as soon as the membrane has disappeared, 
the poles approach one another in consequence of the contraction of 
the protoplasmic substances which occupy the intermediate space, viz. 
the achromatic filaments and the caryoplasm. This contraction results 
from the cohesion of the protoplasmic substances of which the filaments 
are composed, after having dissolved the caryoplasmic granulations. 
In comparing the phenomena which take place in Lilium candidum 
with those in Spirogyra , he suggests that the two asters or amphiasters 
in the former case, with their centres or directing spheres, correspond to 
the suspending cords in the latter case, and that the formation of those 
bodies in Lilium is accounted for by the contraction of the spindle. 
The phenomena are then described in detail which accompany the 
formation of the nuclear plate and of the spindle in Lilium candidum , 
after the disappearance of the nuclear membrane. The knot ( peloton ) 
formed from the rods after the disappearance of the membrane is sur- 
rounded by a remarkably large aster with beautifully clear rays. The 
same phenomenon of the approach of the poles, in consequence of the 
contraction of the connecting filaments, is exhibited in Lilium as in 
Spirogyra. 
(2) Other Cell-contents (including: Secretions). 1 
Localisation of Active Principles.f — M. L. Sauvan has found the 
following to be the distribution of a number of alkaloids and glucosides 
in the various tissues of the living plant : — 
Strychnine in Siryclinos nux-vomica and other species of the genus. 
In the young plant : — in the cortical parencliyme of the root and stem 
and in the liber ; also in the same parts of the mature plant. In the 
seed : — in all the cells of the endosperm and of the embryo, always in 
their interior. 
Brucine in different species of Strychnos. This alkaloid accompanies 
strychnine in all the organs where it occurs ; and it is also present, in 
smaller quantities, in the epiderm of the leaf and of the young stem. 
Curarine in species of Strychnos. In the root and stem : — in the 
interior of the cortical parenchymatous cells and in those of the liber ; 
* Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xlii. (1895) pp. 635-42 ; xliii. (1896) pp. 12-21, 51— S, 
87-96. Cf. this Journal, ante, p. 200. 
t Joum. de Bot. (Morot), x. (1896) pp. 126-40, 157-62 (3 figs.). 
