74 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
BOTANY. 
A. GENERAL, including- the Anatomy and Physiology 
of the Phanerogamia. 
a. Anatomy. 
(1) Cell-structure and Protoplasm. 
Nuclear Division in the Pollen-mother-cells of Lilium Marta- 
gon.* * * § — Prof. J. B. Farmer finds that when the pollen-mother-cells in 
this plant are dividing, there are scattered in the cytoplasm a number 
of granules, and that these granules are coloured by those stains which 
differentiate the chromatic elements of the nucleus. They occur for the 
most part, though by no means exclusively, in the region of the achro- 
matic spindle, and are obviously related to the spindle-fibres, marking 
the position of attraction-centres for portions of the spindle, which is 
thus broken up and becomes multipolar. The structure resembles the 
multipolar spindles observed by Strasburger in endosperm-cells, and a 
similar behaviour of dividing cells has been observed in animals. When 
preparing for division, the nucleus contains a nucleole of enormous size, 
which itself usually encloses several endonucleoles. Frequently this 
nucleole subsequently breaks up into a number of granules, which have 
precisely the same staining properties as those which occur in the cyto- 
plasm. 
Karyokinesis in Pollen-mother-cells of Larix.j — Herr W. Bieliajew 
finds the pollen-mother-cells of Larix to be a very favourable object for 
observing the various stages in karyokinesis ; since they are large, and 
contain but little chromatin. Mutatis mutandis the processes correspond 
very closely to those in Fritillaria Meleagris. 
Nucleus of Germinating Seeds.! — From experiments made on 
Lupinus luteus , Pisum sativum, and Zea Mays, Herr M. Raciborski 
finds that, during the swelling of the seed in germination, the nuclei 
increase in size and become more and more rounded. The protoplasm 
of the nucleus appears to be homogeneous ; during germination the 
chromosomes are ill-defined ; the chromatin-framework makes its 
appearance suddenly in the whole of the nucleus. Small vacuoles 
appear in the protoplasm, increase in size, and coalesce. The protoplasm 
and the nucleus of the dormant seed takes up staining reagents without 
fixing much more readily than those of the germinating seed. 
Anatomy of the Cell in Fungi and Filiform Algae.§ — Herr W. 
Wahrlich has established the existence of protoplasmic connection 
between the cells in all Fungi examined, with the single exception of 
Oidium lactis ; not only between the vegetative cells of the hyphas, but 
also between the asci and the ascospores, and in some cases between the 
* Ann. Bot., vii. (1893) pp. 392-6 (2 figs.). 
t SB. Warschauer Naturf.-Gesell., 1892, 6 pp. See Bot. Centralbl., 1893, Beih., 
p. 446. 
\ Anzeig. Akad. Wiss. Krakau, 1893. See Bot. Centralbl., lv. (1893) p. 159. 
§ St. Petersburg, 60 pp. and 3 pis. (Russian). See Bot. Centralbl., lv. (1893) 
p. 368. 
