298 



ALLEN— SEX INHERITANCE IN SPH^ROCARPOS. 



far are small. In one culture, however, a sufficient number of 

 germinations were obtained to make the results of some value (Ta- 

 ble II.). In this case 24 tetrads, all from a single capsule, were 

 sown on filter paper which was moistened with a nutrient solution 

 made according to the formula given by £. and £. Marchal (1907), 



TABLE II. 



Sex of Plants Derived from Spores from One Capsule of 

 Sphccrocarpos Donnellii (Culture R19). 



Spore tetrads sown separately on moistened filter paper March 17, 1917; 

 sporelings separated and removed to pots of soil May 25 to June i, 1917. 



2 females, 2 males i group 



2 females, i male 2 groups 



I female, 2 males i group 



1 female, i male i group 



2 females, i group 



I female, i group 



1 male i group 



I female, i male, i ? i group 



I female, 2? 2 groups 



I female, i? i group 



2 males, i ? i group 



I male, i ? 3 groups 



2?- I group 



Totals: 15 females, 14 males, I2(?). 



placed in a petri dish, and sterilized before the spores were sown. 

 The sporelings were removed from the filter paper while they were 

 still very small and while their attachment to the spore wall could 

 still be distinguished ; there could thus be no question as to the origin 

 of the plants of a group, and their youth precluded the possibility 

 of a previous multiplication by vegetative means. The sex of the 

 plants was determined, so far as this could be done, at the time of 

 their removal from the filter paper, and each was transplanted to a 

 separate pot of soil. In the cases in which the plants continued to 

 live after transplanting, observations as to their sex were made 

 after further development. Some of the plants died after trans- 

 planting and before producing involucres, and these are the ones 

 whose sex is indicated as doubtful in the table. 



Although more extended observations are desirable, it seems 



