1895.] Briefer Articles. 173 
laboratory experiments have been made here as yet, but the plants in 
the fields have about the same size of ovary in the case of the yellow 
as in the case of the brown anthers; but the best development reached 
by any of the plants seen was in those having yellow anthers. These 
grew in a cool, shady ravine, and within a few feet were other plants 
having brown anthers, which were but slightly inferior in develop- 
ment. 
Nearly seventy-five plants were examined in the field on May 3d, all 
of which had yellow anthers. These were in various stages, from the 
recently opened flower to the blossom that had fallen to the ground, 
but age did not seem to have any effect on the color of the stamens. 
The anther opens not by the throwing of the adjacent lateral pollen 
chambers together, but by the dividing of the dorsal and ventral parti- 
tions inward until the elasticity of the walls ruptures the thin remain- 
ing portion.’ The upper half of fig. 1 illustrates by dotted lines the 
approximate path of such arupture. This process begins at the base 
of the dorsal suture and extends upward, as shown in fig. 3, the dot- 
ted line indicating the probable position of the walls when fully 
opened. A transection of a fully opened anther is shown in fig 2. 
The pollen covered surface is thus exposed to the wind and insects. 
The active mature bulb of one year seems in some cases to be de- 
veloped from a bud of the previous year, the parent bulb being 
absorbed in the growth of the bud. Remains of this parent bulb are 
sometimes adherent to the new bulb, and such a case is shown at a, 
fig. 4. Here the husk has been carefully removed, and the sheathing 
Stalk bent back to show more plainly some details. Af 4 is a bud al- 
ready started although the bulb on which it occurs has not fairly be- 
gun its independent life. Figure 5 gives a longisection of a similar 
bulb showing the young bulb found within the active portion, whicb 
is marked with the vascular bundles. 
If two buds should develop from the same parent at the same time, 
there might be produced a growth similar to that in fig. 11, but such 
contact developments are more likely to occur by the growth of two 
Tunner-bulbs in contact. 
On account of botanical work at Cottage City, Mass., I could not 
continue my collecting during the summer, but my father, Mr. James 
H. Blodgett, kindly collected, at various dates ending with November 
28th, over six hundred bulbs of all sizes, from marked spots near 
Washington, D. C. This collection contains two cases of the “con- 
tact developments.” One of these is represented at fig. 11, and under 
careful examination they show no break in the husk; a small bud is 
*This process is described by Van Tieghem, Traité de Botanique, 882. 
