626 
Notes. 
purple in colour, but becomes blue after 6-7 days. After the 
‘ secretion ’ of the cytoplasm the nuclear chromatin segments diminish 
in size, while the nucleoli become more and more evident, and the 
nucleoplasm has the same appearance as in a leaf which has never 
been fed. The third layer of gland-cells, perhaps concerned in the 
secretion of mucus, also shows marked changes ; for the long spindle- 
shaped nuclei of the resting condition shorten within one minute, after 
ten minutes they are more or less globular, then pass through changes 
similar to those described above, and after some days resume their 
spindle shape — an indication of rest. T TT TT TTTTTT ^ 
LILY H. HUIE. 
A NEW CYCAD FROM THE ISLE OF PORTLAND 1 .— 
Dr. Woodward lately obtained an exceedingly fine specimen of 
a cycadean stem from the Purbeck beds of Portland, which is now in 
the fossil-plant gallery of the British Museum. The stem, which is 
probably the largest known, has a height of 1 m. 18-5 cm., and 
measures 1 m. 7 cm. in girth at the broadest part. A striking feature 
of the specimen is the conical apical bud enclosed by tapered bud- 
scales, bearing numerous ramental outgrowths on the exposed surface. 
The surface of the stem presents the appearance of a prominent 
reticulum of projecting ridges, of which the meshes were originally 
occupied by the persistent petiole-bases. The substance of the leaf- 
stalks has for the most part disappeared, while the interpetiolar 
ramental tissue has been mineralized and so preserved as a projecting 
framework. In structure the ramenta are practically identical with 
those of Bennettites , as described by Carruthers and other writers. 
The petiole-bases also agree very closely with those of Bennettites , 
consisting of a mass of parenchymatous tissue traversed by numerous 
vascular bundles and secretory canals, with a distinct band of cork at 
the periphery. No trace of any inflorescence has been found. It is 
proposed to name the plant Cycadeoidea gigantea. 
A. C. SEWARD. 
OBSERVATIONS ON THE LORANTHACEAE OF CEY- 
LON 2 . II. ANATOMICAL. — I. Emergences on the Embryo of 
Lorantlius neelgherensis . — The hypocotyl of the fully-developed embryo 
1 Abstract of a paper read before Section K at the Liverpool Meeting of the 
British Association, 1896. 
2 Ibid. 
