334 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 
Professor Bessey, by means of a series of observed forms, 
showed conclusively that filaments of Spirogyra can not be called 
male or female, as the two functions seem to reside indifferently 
in the conjugating filaments. The so-called “lateral,” or better, 
“endwise,” conjugation, also prevents any thought of a male or 
female filament. The subject seemed to be of great interest, as 
touching upon the beginnings of bisexuality. It was suggested 
by some, in the discussion that followed, that, inasmuch as It 1s 
far more common to find in conjugating filaments one entirely 
empty and the other containing all the zygospores, while the 
cases observed by Professor Bessey are really exceptional, the 
plant might be one in which bisexuality is attempted but not yet 
completely worked out. To others it seemed preferable to con- 
sider not the filaments, but the cells as individuals which are per- 
fectly bisexual; while an intermediate view was held, which re- 
garded both the former as right, for Spirogyra is a plant whieh 
marks not only a first attempt at bisexuality, but in addition to 
this, bisexuality in groups of individual cells, thus approaching 
the higher composite individual. 
Professor Bessey’s second paper was the result of a further 
_ study of the adventitious inflorescence of Cuscuta glomerata, an- 
nounced at the Philadelphia meeting. It seems that the flower 
branch develops from the stem endogenously, while the hold-fasts 
begin exogenously. These adventitious buds occur only at points 
of root connection with the host, and a section shows that the 
plant axis is changing in the direction of the new buds, the old 
stem presently dying off below. Not only is a new plant axis 
formed, but for a time at this transition stage the leaf scales 
contain chlorophyll. 
rofessor Burrill spoke of two mechanical effects of cold up” 
trees; the radial splitting of wood and bark, and the separate? 
of bark or wood layers in a concentric way. The first was 
plained by water freezing in plates parallel to the surface of an 
organ, and then additions being made to the base, crystals ‘i 
pendicular to the surface would be formed. Thus the wood ae 
tracting, and the ice expanding tangentially and longitudin ae 
(chiefly the former), radial bursting is the result. The south ae 
of a tree is the weakest, as more water exists there, and ice 18 : f 
formed. Direct observation shows that the specific ihe 2 
sap 18 greater on the north side of a tree. es ex- 
Concentric splitting, usually called “wind-shake, “iar t0 
plained by minute ice crystals forming with axis perpendicu's, 
the wood cylinder, thus causing radial tension. Want of mP& 
