74 
REPORT ON BOTANY, MDCCCXLl : 
— The hyaline globules of the albuminous substance develop 
themselves first in the interior of the spores ; they swell, and, 
by so doing, the spores spring out from each other ; through the 
opening thus made, a small hyaline vesicle first developes itself, 
which is soon followed by a second, and third, and fourth, all of 
which assume a crooked shape. The spores now burst into four 
lobes, and a green coloured material developes itself from the 
interior of them. The papillae also now burst, and a green 
mass likewise issues from their openings. The author, in 
other respects, agrees with Bischoff*. The fibres which Bischolf 
terms algoid or fungoid formations, the author considers as 
Cotyledons, In a supplement, p. 721, he is of opinion, that 
their office is to keep the spore above water, as it has 
become heavier by the pressing forward of the green matter. 
He likewise saw the bursting of the sporules, as he terms 
them. 
How does the author know that the small globules are 
albuminous 1 Has he seen that they burst the spores by their 
swelling 1 Has he seen the bursting of the papillse I His 
hasty determination, with regard to the albumen, induces me 
to put these questions. 
On the Structure of Isoetes lacustris, by Hugo Mold, 
Linneea, vol. xiv. p. 181. The stem or root-stock has a 
double furrow, by which this species may be distinguished 
from the Isoetes setacea, Del., which has three such furrows, 
as Delile has observed. The root fibres are situated in these 
furrows, of which the upper grow upwards before the lower ; 
not as is usually the case in this kind of root-stock, where the 
lower root fibres break forth before the upper. Another 
peculiarity of this plant consists in the fact, that the external 
layers of the stem wither away, and are supplied by new ones 
from the interior. The white matter of the root-stock con- 
tains parenchymatous cells ; the small central woody matter 
has, above, an oval, below, a half moon, convex, round form ; 
and consists of a uniform mass of small, short jointed, roundish, 
very loosely combined tubes, with large intercellular channels 
and spaces between them ; the tubes are covered with irregu- 
lar spiral fibres and ring fibres. The vascular bundles extend 
466 
