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of Oenothera Lamarckiana, occurring as the frontispiece of 
volume one of de Vries’s Die Mutationstheorie. As is now well 
known, this is the first plant which was observed by de Vries to 
throw mutants in its seed progeny, an epoch-making observation, 
not only for botany, but for all biological science and evolu- 
tionary philosophy, as it was the first time in the history of 
science that the origin of a new species was actually observed. 
This design typifies, on the side of pure science, experimental 
evolution, and, on the side of applied science, may also be taken 
to stand for plant breeding. 
The fleshy fungi at the center of the lower border typify 
mycology. The mitotic spindles on either side of the fungi 
typify cytology, while the portion of a Spirogyra (pond scum) 
filament just above will doubtless recall, to everyone who has 
studied botany, the early laboratory periods of his beginning 
course, So nearly universal is the use of spirogyra in ele- 
mentary laboratory work that it, probably more fully than any 
other plant, suitably typifies elementary instruction. The diatom 
colonies on the left and right borders will be recognized at 
once as taken from Smith’s familiar illustration of Licmophora 
flabellata, occurring in volume one of Goebel’s Organographie, 
and elsewhere. This plant was chosen for purely decorative 
purposes, though its botanical significance is of course obvious. 
The writer feels that the artist is to be congratulated for 
so successfully utilizing, in an artistic way, objects that were 
not primarily intended for use in artistic design. "The book- 
plate typifies most of the departments of botany which are the 
chief interest of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 
Ci on G: 
