ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
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holocarp may be an apocarp or a syncarp, depending on the degree of 
concrescence of the carpels ; but these two forms pass insensibly one 
into the other. According to the arrangement of the carpels in a spiral 
or in a whorl, a holocarp is a helicocarp or an adinocarp, and further- 
more, according to the position of the placentae, it is pleurospermic or 
antispermic. The caryopsis differs but very slightly from the achene. 
The author regards the follicle as probably a primordial carpological 
type, from which are derived, in various directions, the legume, the 
single-seeded indehiscent achene, the siliqua, and the various forms of 
capsule. 
Seeds and Seedlings of Amentiferse.* — Mr. W. W. Rowlee and Mr. 
G. T. Hastings give the following information on this subject. The 
cotyledons in Juglans and Hicorius {Cary a) correspond to the valves of 
the nut, and are deeply two-lobed. The two divisions of the embryo 
resembling cotyledons are each made up of halves of the cotyledons. In 
Castanea and Quercus, the shell is split in germination by a swelling of 
the cotyledons. In Fagus alone (among Amentiferae), the hypocotyl 
lengthens so as to bring the cotyledons above the surface. 
Phytostatic Law of Branching.-]- — Dr. L. J. Celakovsky recalls 
the law of branching previously enunciated by him under the term 
“phytostatic” : — In every branching, in the widest use of the term, the 
strongest branch developes from the first terminally, the weaker one 
laterally ; but two equally strong branches develope at the same angle 
to the parent-branch. Any structure may arise at one time as the 
stronger, at another time as the weaker, at another time as an equally 
strong branch. From this it follows that the terminal or lateral 
position is entirely independent of the morphological value of the 
branch. This law is now illustrated by a great wealth of examples. 
As a rule the “ primordium ” ( Anlage ) of an axillary bud is much 
weaker than the growing point of the parent shoot. In the vegetative 
region it usually arises in the axil of a deeply placed leaf-primordium ; 
but in the inflorescence, almost always in that of the uppermost leaf, in 
a lateral position beneath the terminal growing point. Hence arise 
three different branching systems, connected by transitional forms. The 
author proposes to suppress altogether the term “ monopodial,” and to 
call the two-branch system indicated by the above difference “ pleuro- 
blastic ” and “ acroblastic,” while the term “ dichotomous ” is replaced 
by “ dichoblastic ” when the repeated dichotomy develops into a sym- 
podium. The same branch-system or the same inflorescence may, even 
in the same plant, develop in a pleuroblastic or in an acroblastic 
manner, or in an intermediate (dichoblastic) fashion. 
Stem of Anemone.^ — M. E. de Janczewski gives a detailed account 
of the general structure of the stem — epigaeous, hypogacous, and peri- 
gaeous — in this genus, with a special description of its distinguishing 
characters in the various sections and genera. 
Classification of Leaves.§ — Prof. A. Hansgirg proposes to classify 
the various forms of leaves, in accordance with their biology, under 
* Bot. Gazette, xxvi. (1898) pp. 349-53 (1 pi.). 
f Jahrb. f. wiss. Bot., xxxii. (1898) pp. 323-60 (1 pi.). 
X Rev. Gen. de Bot. (Bonnier), x. (1898) pp. 433-46, 507-18 (4 pis.). Cf. this 
Journal, 1898, p. 212. § Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr., xlviii. (1898) pp. 430-4. 
