THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 87 



habit with the opposite habit of producing, in summer, self- 

 fertiHzed flowers, is apparently the cause of the multipHcity 

 of fonns in this group of plants. Hybridism gives rise to 

 numerous intergradient types ; cleistogamy preserves them 

 from further intermixture." 



Spore Dispersal in Sphagnum. — In the Bryologist for 

 November E. J. Winslow notes that the spores of the peat 

 moss {Sphagnum) are scattered by little explosions that are 

 sufficiently loud to be heard and sound "like the snapping of 

 a wheat straw." The explosions seem to be due to the drying 

 out of the moisture in the capsule where exposed to sunshine. 

 The spores were projected upward in a reddish-brown cloud 

 for TWO or three inches. 



Mutating Rudbeckias. — At the recent meeting of the 

 American Association for the Advencement of Science, Dr. 

 W. J. Beal of the Michigan Agricultural College, showed two 

 sheets of Rudheckia hirta heads that exhibited most maked 

 departures from the normal. They ranged from heads with 

 eight rays to others with thirty-two. There were two heads 

 with quilled rays, one of which was quilled nearly to the tips 

 of the rays, the other less so. One had a green center instead 

 of the usual purplish brown disk which, as Dr. Beal remarked, 

 should be called green-eyed Susan if anything. Others has 

 broad rays, still others narrow rays, and there were also 

 examples of heads with drooping rays. Two or three speci- 

 mens with purplish markings at the base of the rays, similar to 

 those reported from time to time by other observers were also 

 exhibited. All these forms were found wild but only after an 

 examination of thousands of specimens. Without doubt they 

 will reproduce themselves and even show improvement under 

 cultivation. It is entirely probable that what Dr. Beal has 

 accomplished with these species can be duplicated with others. 

 All it needs is a similar amount of patience and perseverance. 



