Pollination 
an ovary as is the case with most 
flowering plants, but lying quite ex- 
posed, as with all the gymnosperms or 
““naked-seed”’ plants. Pollen drifts into 
the openings between the scales and 
slips down to the base, where some of 
the grains fall on the ovules. There is 
an opening to each ovule, and the 
opening is surrounded by a collar of 
cells which form a tube to receive 
the pollen. When the pollen grain 
is once inside this tube leading to the 
ovule, the opening closes up so that it 
cannot get out. Shortly afterwards, 
the scales of the cone are said to close 
up once more, thus protecting the ovule 
during the course of its further develop- 
ment.” 
With many flowers, fertilization— 
that is, the union of the sperm-cell and 
egg-cell—takes place almost imme- 
diately after, pollen has reached the 
ovule. But in the pine there is an 
extraordinary delay, often covering a 
period of thirteen months. The pollen- 
. grain does indeed begin to germinate 
immediately after it has entered the 
ovule. But when it has gone through 
a few divisions, and put forth a pollen 
in the Pine 405 
tube, it rests for a year. Not until late 
in the following spring, in most species, 
does it actually reach the egg-cell. 
When fertilization does take place, 
it is more thorough than in many: 
species. Not only do the nuclei of the 
two cells unite, but the cytoplasm of 
the two cells fuses, whereas in many 
cases the cytoplasm—that is, all the 
material surrounding the nucleus—of 
the male cell is rejected. 
To obtain a good photograph of the 
process of fertilization is a very rare 
thing, but Prof. David Mottier, of 
Indiana University has sent the re- 
markable one reproduced in Fig. 7. 
Here the two nuclei can be seen, just 
about to unite. Most, if not all, of the 
heredity of the species seems to be 
carried in the nucleus of the cell; con- 
sequently it is the union of cell-nuclei 
that constitutes the essential fact in 
zygosis or fertilization. By this act the 
inherited characters of the male and 
female parent are brought together, to 
lie side by side in the individual which 
results from the growth of the fertilized 
cell, and to be shuffled up, recombined 
and segregated in its posterity. 
Breeding Sugar Cane 
Four generations of seedling cane are 
being grown at the Porto Rico experi- 
ment station, Rio Piedras, P. R., and 
several new varieties of value have 
already been developed. It has been 
found almost impossible successfully 
to pollinate cane by hand, because of 
the smallness of the cane flower, the 
height at which the inflorescence is 
produced, and its brittleness. Success 
has been had, however, by planting two 
varieties in parallel rows, a_pollen- 
sterile variety on the leeward side of one 
pollen-fertile. The wind does the rest. 
State Survey in Illinois 
The Illinois Committee for Mental 
Hygiene is contemplating a state-wide 
survey of the amount and ramifications 
of mental defect. The work would be 
centralized in Chicago. This action 
is in line with that taken recently by a 
number of communities, and must 
eventually be followed by the whole 
nation, as the realization becomes 
more widespread that a large part of 
the crime and misery is due to inherited 
mental defect, and that most of it can 
be wiped out, within a generation, 
without excessive labor or expense. 
2 For a careful technical account see Ferguson, Margaret C. Contributions to the Knowledge 
of the Life History of Pinus, etc. 
Washington, 1904. 
