AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. 327 



the short-cycled lepto rusts and micro rusts with reference to the time of 

 inauguration of the binucleate condition. In one type, illustrated by Puccinia 

 elegans, P. asteris, and P. malvacearum, the binucleate condition arises at the 

 base of the young teleutospore sori. In the other type the binucleate condi- 

 tion arises at some indefinite point earlier in the life history in the vegetative 

 mycelium. Vromyces rudheclcia; was found to present an enigmatical varia- 

 tion in which all cells, teleutospores as well as vegetative mycelium, possessed 

 each but one nucleus. 



The theoi-y and practice of plant breeding, H. Lang {Theorie und Praxis 

 der Pflanzenzuchtung. Stuttyart, IDIO, pp. VIII+169, figs. 47).— This text- 

 book gives practical directions for plant breeding experiments, and describes 

 various aids that ha^e been found of advantage in the manipulations attending 

 plant breeding, selection, and fixation of new forms, after which a discussion 

 is given of heredity, natural selection, correlation, etc. Special chapters are 

 devoted to the problems of breeding wheat, rye, barley, oats, beets, potatoes, 

 maize, red clover, and tobacco. 



A rather extensive bibliography of plant breeding is given. 



Alterations in heredity induced by ovarial treatments, D. T. MacDotjgal 

 (Bot. Caz., 51 {1911), l\o. J,, pp. 2.'il~251, pis. 3, figs. 3).— For a number of years 

 the author has carried on experiments to determine the effect of injecting 

 various solutions into tlie ovaries of different plants, a preliminary account of 

 which has been given (E. S. R., 19, p. 1127). The present paper gives an ac- 

 count of the progress that has been made, and includes a description of the 

 technique and character of the plants employed, together with the results of 

 the culture of the affected species through a number of generations. 



The earlier conclusions that the sum of hereditary characters in pedigreed 

 lines of plants may be altered by solutions applied to the ovaries in the stage 

 immediately preceding fertilization have been confirmed, and some of the 

 derivatives have been carried through several generations. 



Experimental studies in Indian cottons, H. M. Leake (Proe. Roy. Soe. 

 [London], Sen B, 83 (1911), No. B 566, pp. ^47-7/57).— The author made a study 

 of the types of cotton most cultivated in India, particularly of those types com- 

 mon to northern India. He states that they fall into two groups, which are 

 characterized by the form of the secondary branches, which may be either 

 monopodial or sympodial. The experiments reported cover obsei'vations on 

 color of corolla, red coloring matter of sap, leaf factor, type of branching and 

 length of vegetative period, and glands of the leaf. 



From an economic standpoint the author states that it is essential that plants 

 of the sympodial type should be cultivated in the United Provinces of India to 

 be a commercial success, for the monopodial types do not flower in time to 

 give a crop before the winter sets in. The majority of Indian cottons with a 

 valuable staple, it is said, belong to the monopodial type, and the problem for 

 the plant breeder is the isolation of sympodial forms with the staple of the 

 monopodial type. 



Studies on the variability and heritability of pigmentation in CEnothera, 

 R. R. Gates {Ztschr. Induktive Abstani. u. Vererhungsiehre, // (1911), No. 5, 

 pp. 837-372, pi. 1, figs. 5). — ^A summary is given of observations made during 

 the past 4 years on the variation and inheritance of the red pigment, antho- 

 cyanin, in GEnothera. The studies concerned the development of the red color 

 pattern, which occurs particularly on the calyx in many forms, but which may 

 also appear in other parts of the plant. 



In most cases these quantitative differences in pigmentation were found to be 

 nonheritable, but one striking case is described in which there was found a 

 strict inheritance of an extreme amount of pigmentation. A series of crosses 



