NOTICES OF SERIALS. 
133 
Phytologist. No. 155. 8vo. London : J. Van Voorst. Price Is. 
April:—(Mudcl, William) Account of the Lichens of Cleveland. Proceedings of 
Societies—Linnean—Inflorescance of Cycas revoluta and Macrozamia spiralis ; 
Observations on the Parasitism of Rhinanthus Cristi-galli , and its injurious effects 
on growth of barley. These observations were made in a field, in the parish of 
Debden, Essex, consisting of about 170 acres, principally a clayey soil, such as is 
usually called heavy land ; 30 acres were under barley, and of these about 10 were 
destroyed by this plant. The Rhinanthus (according to Mr. J. Charke, by whom 
their memoir was read) effects this injury by the fibres of the roots attaching them¬ 
selves to the fibres of the barley, on which they form small, round tubers, or what 
may be more appropriately termed spongioles, which embrace the fibres so effec¬ 
tually as to suck the juices of the plant, so as to starve it, and, in most instances, 
ultimately destroy it. These spongioles are formed of a cellular tissue. The 
ordinary method employed to destroy weeds, by a summer fallow, does not avail, 
as the Rhinanthus does not grow in clean earth. The other method of destroying 
weeds, by green crops in rows, is equally unsuccessful, as it does not grow among 
green crops. As it is an annual, it should be pulled up before it seeds ; and as it 
grows on a clay soil, and to no great extent, except in a wet season, the land should 
be effectually drained. (Hooker, J. D.) On the Genus Hodgsonia; (Henfrey, A.) 
Remarks on the Eye—spot of Infusoria and Microscopic Algm. Dublin Natural 
History Society; Botanical Society of Edinburgh—(Balfour, Dr.) On the Pollen 
of Zamia horrida. The pollen, he stated, to be, in its ordinary condition, ellipti¬ 
cal, with a groove in one side, resembling very much a grain of wheat in appear¬ 
ance. The groove is formed by the folding inwards of the edges of the pollen 
grain, which, when fully expanded, under the action of water, becomes completely 
spherical. When water is applied, under the microscope, to the elliptic pollen- 
grains of Zamia, the two edges of the groove are seen to unfold and spread, so as 
to produce the circular grain ; when allowed to dry, the grain resumes the circular 
grooved condition. It is difficult to say which is the characteristic form—the one 
being the dry state of the pollen, while the other is the moist condition. (Brown, 
Rev. Thomas) Muscology of East Court of Fife, including a variety of Muium 
affine , not previously found in fruit in Britain, besides several other unusual 
species ; (Sanderson, J. S. B.) Note on the Supposed Antheridia of the Rhamnem ; 
(Lawson, G.) On the Anatomical Structure of Coniform and other Gymnogens; 
(Moore, Thomas) On Ophioglossurn lusitanicum. The existence of this curious 
little plant, in Guernsey, was first discovered, in the January of the present year, 
by Mr. Wolsey, who met with it above the rocks, bordering on Petit Bot Bay, in 
that island. One remarkable feature of the plant, is the early period of the year at 
which its growth is made. By the middle of January, Mr. W. found the fronds 
fully developed; and the fronds, no doubt, perish early in the spring. It is not 
improbable that a diligent search might be rewarded by its discovery in the western 
counties of England or Ireland. Its early development and decay should be 
borne in mind by those who undertake the search. Greenwich Natural History 
Club—The President, George Burk, .Esq., exhibited a series of leaves of the 
Bramble ( Ruhus fruticosus ), which he had received from the Midland and 
Southern Counties of England and Jersey, and which were affected with a disease 
almost as general as the potato disease. The cause of this disease was a 
