228 Rhodora [DECEMBER 
ovaries sectioned, even after the embryos are well along ; this, in con- 
trast to what I have noted in polyembryonic ovaries. 
In the prevalent, abnormal development the inner integument of 
the ovules displays an extraordinary growth and tendency to form em- 
bryogenic masses even before the embryo-sac is mature. Indeed the 
sac seems ordinarily to be pushed aside by the adventive growths, 
and probably becomes functionless. I have rarely found traces of pollen 
tubes in the ovaries. In a test made to determine the ability of the 
plant to produce its polyembryonic seed under conditions absolutely 
excluding fertilization, I have, at the time of writing, got so far as to 
find adventive embryos of nearly the normal size. From present ap- 
pearances I judge that the seed borne under test conditions will not 
differ from that ordinarily produced.' 
The adventive embryos number from one to five or six. When 
several occur together, some are sure to be smaller than others. Even 
when solitary, an adventive embryo is readily distinguished from an 
egg-derived embryo in lacking the slight apical protuberance which 
serves the normal germ as suspensor — or at least as haustorium. In 
my observation, adventive and normal embryos do not occur in the 
same pod, or even upon the same plant. 
The embryonal tissue is apt to grow so vigorously as to distort and 
frequently to rupture the seed. It is common to find large, rounded, 
embryo-like masses outside the micropyle, connected by a chain of 
richly protoplasmic cells to the nourishing region at the end of the 
seed. 
The forms of the embryos vary from spherical to elongate; not 
rarely irregular and lobed examples occur. The lack of uniformity in 
size, shape, and position of the embryos in the seed is in consonance 
with the irregularity in all respects characterizing this mode of repro- 
duction. 
Tue Ames BorANICAL LABORATORY, North Easton. 
! Since the above was written the pods of the plant under observation have 
come to maturity with an abundance of seed full of embryos of the usual size and 
formation. 
