268 
Physiologie. — Palaeontologie. 
Immunitätslehre beobachtet. Auf solche Ueberempfindlichkeit will 
man auch die Urtikaria zurückführen, die manche Personen beim 
Genuss von gewissen Früchten, besonders Erdbeeren, befällt; fer¬ 
ner das Heufieber, dass der Pollen verschiedener Gramineen verur¬ 
sacht; auch die Hautausschläge, die gewisse Pflanzen, chinesische 
Primula, Scilla u. A. erzeugen. Gertrud Tobler. 
Jeffrey, E. C., The Structure and Wound-reactions of the 
Mesozoic Genus Brachyphyllum. (Rep. Brit. Assoc. York (1906) 
p. 750—751, 1907.) 
The affinities of the fossil genus Brachyphyllum, which have 
been much disputed, are determined from the study of structure- 
specimens of Brachyphyllum macrocarpum Newb., from the Raritan 
deposits of Staten Island N. Y. to be Araucarian Conifers of the 
Cupressinoid habit. The central cylinder encloses a much smaller 
pith than that of Araucaria and Agathis, and the pith is occupied 
by masses of sclerenchyma. The wood is of a more primitive type 
than that found in the still existing Araucarineae, and resembles 
the ancient Gymnosperms in the absence of wood parenchyma. The 
pits of the tracheids, and rays are of the Araucarian type. The 
phloem is without bast fibres, and in this respect resembles the 
Äbietineae. Araucarian cone-scales are also frequently associated 
with Brachyphyllum. 
The wound reactions of Brachyphyllum are strikingly similar 
to those of the Äbietineae. Traumatic resin-canals are formed as the 
result of wounds, just as they are in Abies etc. They are not found 
in other Cretaceous Araucarians nor in the living Agathis or Araucaria. 
Brachyphyllum, although Araucarian in its affinities, resembles 
the Äbietineae in the structure of the wood, and phloem, in the 
Organisation of the leaf-traces, and in its wound reactions. Thus this 
genus appears to remove the Araucarineae from a position of isola- 
tion, and to show them as undoubtedly Coniferous, and allied to 
the Äbietineae. Arber (Cambridge). 
Oliver, F. W., Pteridospe rms and Angiosperms. (New Phy- 
tologist, Vol. V, p. 232—242, with a text-figure, 1906.) 
One of the outstanding problems of morphology now engaging 
the attention of botanists is that of the origin of the dominant dass — 
the horde of plants of complex Organisation known as the Angio¬ 
sperms. The author discusses Wieland’s work on the American 
Fossil Cycads, and the recently elucidated Pteridospermeae, in this 
connection. A chart is given showing the Distribution in Time of 
the main groups of Vascular Plants, which illustrates also the rela¬ 
tive abundance and antiquity of the Spermophytes in the fossilife- 
rous rocks. 
The author next reviews the main characteristics of the Pteri- 
dosperms, their Fern-like habit, and the Organisation of the seed. The 
group is compared with the Lycopsida, with which they contrast in 
marked degree in the lack of concentration and differentiation of 
their sporophylls. There seem to be some grounds for regarding 
both the Lycopsida and Pteropsida as having responded to the Sti¬ 
mulus of spore- or even seed-production in a rather different way. 
The cones of Spencerites and Lepidostrobus are contrasted, and ana- 
logies in the seeds of the Pteridosperms discussed. 
