392 NOTES AND COMMENTS [DECEMBER 
The same fungus appears also to secrete a cellulose-dissolving 
ferment, as its hyphae may be seen to penetrate with ease the walls of 
the endosperm cells. 
More Sports. 
THE Annals of Botany (Sept. 1899) contains an interesting paper by 
Professor H. de Vries on the inheritance of sports. He has obtained 
a race of Dipsacus sylvestris in which the leaves are all spirally arranged, 
instead of being in the opposite-decussate system, typical of this plant 
in general. The original parents were two individuals raised from 
seed sown in 1884; these were carefully isolated, and from their seed 
1650 plants were obtained in 1886, Dipsacus sylvestris being a biennial 
plant; but of this large number only two retained the spiral phyllo- 
taxis. These were allowed to seed while all the others were destroyed 
before flowering, and the third generation, composed of about the same 
number of plants, contained sixty-seven twisted individuals, or about 
four per cent. The fourth generation gave ten per cent, but, owing to 
an accident, its seed could not be employed, so that another fourth 
generation was raised from the remaining seed of the third generation 
sown in 1891, and resulted in a yield of thirty-four per cent of twisted 
individuals, a percentage which has not been greatly exceeded in 
subsequent cultivations. 
The gradual rise in the percentage of good plants is accounted for 
by improvements in the cultural methods, especially with regard to the 
amount of space put at the disposal of individuals, while the richness 
of the soil and the time of sowing are likewise factors of essential 
importance in the production of successful results; in short, the per- 
petuation of such useless if not harmful variations requires the presence 
of an environment as favourable as possible to the life of the plant. 
A Pontifical Plant. 
Ir cannot be laid to the charge of Natural Science that it has been 
prone to get excited over the creation of a new species, but our 
esteemed contemporary Science (October 20, 1899) has called our 
attention to one which affords us a purr of delight. The reference is 
to the Daily Chronicle, where botanists might naturally overlook it. 
As to the description of the new species, it is given in somewhat 
unconventional language, but this may be pardoned in the new 
departure of a London Daily. “The Pope takes great interest in an 
electric plant, to which he has given the name ‘ Officina Electrica 
