219 



lias been surpassed again by magnicoronate narcissi, the dimensions 

 of which are greater in one or two respects (e. g. Early Giant, 

 Apotheose, Ajax Grand Vizier, Imperator and Mammoth ; (see For 

 this tlie "Weekblad voor Bloenibollencnltunr", 32nd. Year, 1922, 

 Nos. 85, 87, 89, 91 and 93), so that we may suppose that there 

 are already hjpertetraploid forms. In tliis connection the significant 

 question arises as to whether the number of chromosomes maj go 

 on increasing indefinitely. Or, in other' words: Is there any limit, 

 and if so, where? 



The same question has been asked by Bkumer with regard to the 

 increasing size. ("Weekblad" n". 101). In the following table some 

 of the ineasnrements are given in millimetres; they are nearly the 

 same as those given in the publication of Sydknham (4), with the 

 exception of those for Mammoth, which are mentioned in "Week- 

 blad", n\ 93. 



3. It goes without saying that I cannot now sacrifice the plants 

 that 1 have obtained from King Alfred and Golden Spur for a 

 cytological examination. But even without this examination it seems 

 to me highly probable, especially when I test these observations by 

 those conducted by Winki.ek with Solanum (5) and those of van 

 OvKKKEM with Oenothera (2), that these conspicuous differences in 

 form and size are primarily due to an unequal distribution of the 

 chromosomes in the reduction-dividing of which an unequal combi- 

 nation of the sex nuclei is the inevitable result. 



LITERATURE. 



1 . Paul Ascherson and Paul Graebner. Synopsis der mitteleuropaïschen Flora, 

 Bd. 3, Leipzig, Wilhelm Engelmann, 1905—1907. 



2. Casper van Overeem. Ueber Formen mil abweichender dhromosomenzahl 

 bei Oenothera. Beihefte zum Bot. Gentralbl., Bd. 38, Abt. I, Heft 2, 1921. 



