290 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [APRIL 
mation of the foam-like cytoplasm, its growth continues by apposition, and the 
upper portion often swells considerably before fertilization. ‘The membrane of 
the embryo sac is resorbed over the apex of the synergids, which then quite fre- 
quently protrude. The vacuoles in the lower part of the synergids develop 
simultaneously with the filiform apparatus, and are separated from it bya plasma 
membrane. The filiform apparatus consists of cellulose, and its function seems 
to be the separation of the chemotactic glucose-containing substance, which 
passes into the micropyle and attracts the pollen tube. e name “‘synergid” 
is consequently quite appropriate.—CHARLES J. CHAMBERLAIN. 
Moisture in seeds.—Brown and Duvet'® have devised a method for the 
rapid determination of the percentage of moisture in grains. The method con- 
sists in heating a given weight of the grain in oil to drive off the water, which is 
condensed and measured in a graduated cylinder. The method is accurate, 
simple, and capable of great speed in application. The determinations are said 
to be accurate to o.1 of 1 per cent., which makes it suitable for all scientific deter- 
minations. A determination can be made in twenty minutes, and with a number 
of compartments to the apparatus one trained manipulator with an ordinary 
assistant can make 200 determinations in a day. It is to be hoped that this will 
be one step toward putting grain-testing on a reliable basis. The economic 
improvement in the method of grading grain is seen when it is mentioned that the 
percentage of the European importation of corn that the United States furnishes 
has greatly diminished in the last decade, because of the great liability of our corn 
to spoil en route-—Wm. CROCKER. 
Centrosomes in angiosperms.—KOERNICKE’? has reviewed the centrosome 
studies of the past seven years, paying particular attention to the work of BER- 
NARD. Besides studying his old preparations and making new ones showing 
mitosis in the embryo sacs and pollen mother cells of various species of Lilium, 
KoeRNICKE has made a thorough study of the division of the generative cell as it 
occurs in the pollen tube of Lilium, thinking that centrosomes might be retained 
longest by these structures which represent the ciliated sperms of some no- 
sperms. No centrosomes were found, but on the contrary the fibers of the spindle 
were seen to end in the Hautschicht. It is of interest to note that while the gen- 
erative cell is sharply outlined in the pollen grain, it loses its sharp contour after it 
passes into the pollen tube. After the generative nucleus divides, the two daughter 
nuclei lie free in the general cytoplasm of the pollen tube, there being no well- 
organized cells as figured by GuicNarD and reproduced by current textbooks.— 
CHARLES J. CHAMBERLAIN 
18 Brown, Epcar, and Duvet, J. W. T., A quick method for the determination 
of moisture in grain. U.S. Dept. Agric., Bureau Pl. Ind., Bull. 99. pp. 24. figs 12 
1907. 
*9 KOERNICKE, MAx, Zentrosomen bei Angiospermen. Flora 96:501-522- 
pl. 5. 1906 
