452 Morphologie etc. — Varietäten etc. 



in the somatic and premeiotic prophases. It is believed that during 

 'synapsis' the parallelisms concentrate to form whole, or portions 

 of whole, somatic chromosomes. The spireme as it comes out of 

 synapsis is Univalent in character, the longitudinal fission in its 

 substance being homologous with that of the presynaptic stages. 

 The Univalent homologous lengths of spirems may have joined end 

 to end, or be partially united during synapsis, but it is not until 

 the hollow spireme and second contraction that the pairing and 

 fusion of the Univalent chromosomes to form the bivalent Segments 

 are completed. As the bivalent chromosome-segments come out of 

 the second contraction they split apart into the two Univalent chro- 

 mosomes. At the homotype division these Univalent chromosomes 

 split longitudinally. 'Crystalline' structures are present in the nuclei 

 of the outer two or three rows of cells of the roots. 'Chromatic' 

 bodies are given off from the nucleus during the pre-synaptic, 

 synaptic, and hollow-spireme stages. Agnes Arber (Cambridge). 



Wernham, H. F., The Morphology of Phylloglossum Drum- 

 mondii. (Ann. Bot. XXIV. p. 335-347. 8 Text-fig. 1910.) 



The observations recorded in the present paper were based 

 on two plants, whose anatomy was studied in detail by means of 

 serial microtome sections. The author concludes that, in view of its 

 anatomical structure, Phylloglossum, like Tmesipteris, is microphyl- 

 lous in its lower portion and megaphyllous in the upper. The gene- 

 ral degradation of the vascular System, coupled with the geophilous 

 habit, suggests that Phylloglossum has undergone considerable re- 

 duction recently in descent. This reduction has resulted in the com- 

 plete suppression of the megaphyllous leaves. The similarity in cer- 

 tain points between Phylloglossum and Isoeies tends to support the 

 Lycopodinean affinities of the latter. Phylloglossum, far from being 

 a primitive form, is highly specialized. 



Agnes Arber (Cambridge). 



Compton, R. H., On Right- and Left-Han dedness in Bar- 

 ley. (Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. XV. p. 495-506. Pt. 6. 1910.) 



A seed of barley produc-es on germination a tubulär sheath 

 through which the nrst green leaf emerges. This first leaf is so 

 folded that one margin overlaps the other; in some cases the right- 

 hand margin overlaps, in others the left-hand. The author's exami- 

 nation of more than 7000 seedlings brings to light the fact that not 

 only in the whole population, but also in each of the eight varieties 

 studied, there is an excess of "left-handed" seedlings. He has also 

 been able to show that: 



I. The twist of the last leaf below a spike has no influence 

 whatever on the ratio of right- to left-handed seedlings produced 

 from that spike. 



II. The right- or left-handedness of the seedlings appears to 

 have no relation to the position which the seed occupied in the ear. 



III. The characters of right- and left-handedness in the barley 

 appear not to be hereditary. Agnes Arber (Cambridge). 



Farmer, J. B. and L. Digby. On the Cytological Features 



