296 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
states that at present we know next to nothing of the conditions which 
determine bud-variation. 
Primordial Leaves of the Cupressinese.* — M. A. Daguillon now 
states that the polymorphism in the leaves of Coniferse, already re- 
corded by him in the Abietineae, is not confined to that tribe, but 
occurs also in the larger number of the Cupressinese (Gupressus, Chamse- 
cyparis , Biota, Thuja , Juniperus ) ; the primordial leaves differing from 
those of the mature plant in their phyllotaxis as well as in definite 
points of structure, especially in the distribution of the stomates and 
of the secreting canals, the structure of the hypoderm and of the 
meristele, &c. 
Stomates of Cynomorium.t — Sig. K. Pirotta and Dr. B. Longo 
describe the occurrence of abnormal stomates in Cynomorium coccineum. 
Besides those of ordinary structure, they find, especially on the bracts 
and perianth-leaves, others which present various abnormalities. In 
some, two stomates are in close contact with one another ; in others, a 
partial fusion has taken place, so that two stomates have between them 
only three guard-cells ; in others, septation has taken place, in one or 
both of the guard-cells, at right angles to the fissure, so that each 
stomate has either three or four guard-cells. 
Locality of the Absorption of Nutrient Substances by Boots.J — 
According to Prof. L. Kny, absorption of nutrient substances by roots 
is not effected only through the root-hairs, but also through the epiderm 
in a zone of varying length on the apical side of the root-hair region. 
The plants experimented on were Zea Mays , Pisum sativum , and Hydro- 
rharis morsus-ranae ; the evidence was furnished by the absorption of 
methyl-violet, and of nitrates, demonstrated in the latter case by the 
diphenylamin-sulphuric-acid test. The results were, however, by no 
means uniform, individuals of the same species showing great variation 
in this respect. 
Nitragin and the Nodules of Leguminous Plants.§ — Miss Maria 
Dawson states that a study of the nodules found upon the roots of 
leguminous plants has led her to an unhesitating confirmation of the 
parasitic nature both of the filaments and of the bacteroids. The 
formation of tubercles is the result of inoculation, either of the seeds 
or of the soil, with nitragin, which consists of minute straight micro- 
coccus-like organisms, which become connected into bacteroids and 
straight rods. 
Bowenia spectabilis.|| — Mr. H. H. W. Pearson has studied the 
anatomy of the seedling of this remarkable and little-known Cycad. 
The decompound leaf has a remarkable resemblance to that of a 
Marattia. A point of great physiological interest is the development 
of numerous curiously branched roots from the upper part of the main 
root, which at once assume an upward vertical direction of growth, and 
whose cells contain abundance of Anabaena filaments. Their branching 
is of an exogenous type. The young leaf has a circinate vernation. 
* Comptes Rendus, cxxviii. (1899) pp. 256-9. Cf. this Journal, 1889, p. 245. 
t Atti R. Accad. Lincei, viii. (1899) pp. 98-100 (5 figs.). 
X Bor. Deutsch. Bot. Ges., xvi. (1898) pp. 216-36. 
§ Proc. Roy. Soc., lxiv. (1899) pp. 167-8. 
]| Ann. of Bot., xii. (1898) pp. 475-90 (2 pis.). 
