ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 185 



embryo-sac absorbs the entire nucellus, while in Gephalotus the ripe seed 

 contains perisperm. Gephalotus has numerous seeds, while Sarracenia 

 has only one. These and other differences appear to discredit any 

 systematic relationship between the two genera. 



Variation of Zinnia due to Traumatism.* — P. Becquerel contributes 

 some interesting observations upon variations exhibited by Zinnia elegans 

 in consequence of traumatism. The plants having been partially frost- 

 bitten, the damaged portions were cut away. The remaining shoots 

 produced very fine flowers, which showed some remarkable variations in 

 the structure of the capitula, the colour and scales of the florets, and the 

 grouping of the leaves upon the stem. The author is not prepared to 

 assert that these phenomena have any connection with mutations, but he 

 awaits the results of the seeds produced by these flowers, before making 

 any definite statements. 



Origin of Cultivated Oats.f — M. Trabut contributes a note upon 

 cultivated oats. The writer has examined many species of North African 

 oats, and finds that they are all to be regarded as secondary species of 

 Arena sterilis. They differ in no important respect from the cultivated 

 oats of the Mediterranean region, and they are not hybrids. It would 

 appear that A. sterilis and A./atua have given rise to two series of cul- 

 tivated oats ; the former is characteristic of the Mediterranean region, 

 and has tough elongated glumules, the lower glumule inserted obliquely, 

 and other less important characters ; the latter is characteristic of central 

 Europe, and has short glumules inserted horizontally, while the flowers 

 separate by rupture from the rachis. The character of the articulations 

 may be useful in determining spontaneous species, but should only be 

 regarded as of secondary importance. 



New Fossil Discoveries and their Significance.! — H. Brockmann- 

 Jerosch contributes a preliminary paper upon some new fossils discovered 

 in the quaternary beds and their significance in reference to the flora of 

 the Ice Age. Through excavations lately made in the neighbourhood 

 of (luntenstall it has been proved that the geological strata in that 

 region are less old than the slate-coal beds of Uznach. The present 

 discoveries show that the Nathorst theory as to the Dryas-ftoYH is not 

 tenable, for everywhere that this flora has been examined, there has been 

 found intermingled with it a flora characteristic of the climate of modern 

 central Europe. This flora includes both water and land plants, such as 

 Sparganium, Potamogeton, Alisma, Salix repens, Betula, Ranunculus, etc. 

 This tends to show that we are dealing with a flora of warm, level 

 regions. The author regards the Dryas-Qora, not as a remnant of a 

 general flora but as a zone surrounding an ice-region, and believes that 

 the fossil discoveries cited in favour of the Nathorst theory have been 

 wrongly classified as to their geological age, owing to misconceptions 

 derived from the theory itself. 



* Cornptes Rendus, cxlix. (1909) pp. 1148-50. f Torn. cit.,pp. 227-9. 



J Vierteljahrsch. Naturf. Gesell. Zurich, liv. (1909) pp. 101-15. 



April 20th, 1910 



