Miscellaneous Notes . 
i3 
Principles of Biology (Revised Edition, Vol. II., pp. 50-80). 
Mr. Spencer derives the shoot-system of the Angiosperms from a 
sympodium of frondose (thalloid) shoots such as is often formed in 
the frondose Liverworts. He then endeavours to trace in the 
monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous types the necessary outcome 
of two different lines of adaptation to the vertical habit. Into the 
details of his theory, many of which differ entirely from those of 
Professor Celakovsky’s, we cannot of course enter here, but a 
fundamental agreement consists in regarding the leaf plus the stem 
joint (“ Sprossglied” of Celakovsky) as the unit of shoot construction, 
and hence in taking Celakovsky’s pleuroblastic type as primitive. 
Mr. Spencer’s derivation of the acroblastic method of growth by 
crowding and dwarfing of the successively formed leaf-rudiments 
(Figs. 100-104, p. 65) is also essentially in accord with the views 
of the Bohemian morphologist. 
Herbarium Specimens for Teaching Purposes. 
We have received from Mr. M. Buysman of Middleburg, 
Holland, some very admirable dried specimens of plants, both native 
and exotic. The complete specimens are very well arranged and 
displayed, but the special feature of Mr. Buysman’s series is the 
means taken to preserve and display the various morphological 
characters of the species that can be revealed by ordinary dissection 
and with the aid of a lens. The perishable parts of the flower or 
fruit are dissected and preserved in a small flat bottle of spirit which 
is placed in an envelope attached to the sheet, while the dry parts 
such as the seeds or achenes are put into another envelope. In this 
way all the characters necessary for the diagnosis of the species can 
be made accessible on the herbarium sheet. For detailed treatment 
of a genus or small family, where fresh material is not available, this 
“Herbarium analyticum” should be of very great use to teachers. 
The price of each sheet is one shilling. Mr. Buysman is willing, we 
understand, to prepare any accessible species, not in his list, to 
order. 
