482 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
germinate readily, but the subsequent growth is very slow. The pro- 
thallium is distinguished by its very massive character ; it is more than 
one cell thick, except at the edge, and has a strong mid-rib. It is re- 
markably persistent, remaining more than a year after the appearance of 
the young plant ; and, if unfertilized, is apparently capable of unlimited 
growth and duration. The prothallia are monoecious, the antherids 
being found mostly on the lower surface of the mid-rib, but also on the 
upper surface of the prothallium ; the archegones are formed later, and 
entirely on the lower surface of the mid-rib. The antherid arises from 
a single superficial cell, which first divides into an inner cell (the mother- 
cell of the antlierozoid-cells) and an outer lid-cell. It would appear that 
any superficial cell of the apical meristem can develope into an archegone. 
In the early stages of the development of the embryo, Maratiia agrees 
closely with Angiopteris. The first leaf is destitute of the stipules 
characteristic of the older plant. 
The author regards these observations as confirming his previous 
views as to the primitive nature of the eusporangiate Pteridophytes, and 
as to their origin from the Bryophytes through the Antliocerotese. 
Muscineae. 
New Genera of Hepaticae. — Under the name Schiffneria hyalina 
g. et sp. n., Herr F. Stephani * describes a new r genus of Jungermanniacese 
from the Moluccas, with the following diagnosis : — Planta frondosa, 
radicellis fasciculatis repens; ramificatio postica, e latere costae orta; 
frondes planae, costatae, alis attenuatis inciso-lobatis, lobi in piano falcati 
succube imbricati, folia fingentes ; amphigastria pro more nulla ; cellulae 
centrales costae valde elongatae, reliquae parenchymaticae, magnae. The 
plant is dioecious, and presents, according to the author, a transitional 
form between the thallose and the foliose Jungermanniaceae. 
Among the descriptions of a large number of new species of Ilepaticae 
by the same author | is one of a new genus from China which he names 
Delavayella : — Planta bilatcralis, mollis, caespitans, erecta, parum ramosa, 
ramis ubique lateralibus, e basi caulis solum radicans; folia conferta, 
distiche patula, medio infero conduplicata, supere aperta, dimidio 
postico piano erecto, ad basim in sacculo commutato, antico decurvo 
revoluto in caulem longe decurrente, apice bifida serrata acuta. Cellulae 
magnae, trigonis distinctis instructae ; flores feminei terminales, pistil! a 
numerosa; folia floralia 2, perianthium vaginatim amplectentia, longe 
carinata, superne bifida, patula, serrata ; perianthium valde elongatum, 
compresso-cylindricum, haud plicatum, ore aperto quadrifido dentato ; 
propagula in apice caulis subnudi, e margine squamarum orta, hyalina, 
globosa ; inflorescentia dioica ; mascula ignota. 
Heir J. B. Jack J finds, among Hepaticse gathered in Argentina and 
Bolivia, a remarkable species which he makes the type of a new genus 
Stephaniella, but the exact position of which he is unable to define, 
owing to the absence of reproductive organs. It is distinguished by its 
long and greatly branched rhizome, and by the great number of paraphylls 
which fill up the spaces between the leaves. 
* Oestorr. Bot. Zeitschr., xliv. (1894) pp. 1-5 (1 pi.), 
f Hedwigia, xxxiii. (1894) pp. 1-10 (5 tigs.), 
t Tom. cit., pp. 11-4 (8 figs.). 
