234 FISHER: SEED DEVELOPMENT IN PEPEROMIA 
derived; (2) that the first four nuclei of the embryo sac are probably 
homologous with megaspores—certainly not a primitive feature; 
(3) that the peculiar origin of the endosperm nucleus here probably 
represents a derived condition; (4) that an endosperm which is 
cellular from the start cannot be regarded as primitive; and (5) that 
none of the close relatives of Peperomia furnishes any indication, 
from the development of the embryo sac, that the genus is primi- 
tive, the writer is inclined to believe that the peculiarities in origin 
and development of the embryo sac of Peperomia have been 
secondarily acquired. 
Finally, I wish to thank those who have helped make this study 
possible. I am under obligation to Dr. Charles B. Davenport, 
Director of the Biological Laboratory of the Brooklyn Institute 
of Arts and Sciences, Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York, 
for the use of a room in the Research Laboratory of that Insti- 
tution in 1911; to Captain John Donnell Smith for the use of certain 
books from his library; to Dr. Casimir de Candolle for determining 
specimens of the plants studied; to Mrs. Bessie Wiley Fisher who 
carefully made the majority of my slides; and to Professor D. S. 
Johnson who collected a large portion of the material and to whom 
I am also greatly indebted for helpful criticism throughout the 
work, 
THE JouNS HopKINS UNIVERSITY 
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 
LITERATURE CITED 
1. Armour, H.M. On the morphology of Chloranthus. New Phytol. 
5: 49-54. pl. 3, 4. Mr 1906. 
- Baillon, H. Sur la position des Chloranthacées. Adansonia 10: 
138-146. 1871. 
. Braun, A. Ueber Polyembryonie und Keimung von Coelebogyne, 
ein Nachtrag zu der Abhandlung ueber Parthenogenesis bei 
Pflanzen. Abhandl. Konigl. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 109-263. 1859. 
Brown, W. H. The nature of the embryo sac of Peperomia. 
Bot. Gaz. 46: 445-460. pl. 31-33. 1908. 
; Brown, W. H., & Sharp, L. W. The embryo sac of Epipactis. 
Bot. Gaz. 52: 439-452. pl. 10. D 1911. 
- Campbell, D. H. Die Entwickelung des Embryosackes von 
Peperomia pellucida Kunth. Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell. 17: 
452-456. pl. 31. 1899. 
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