234 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [SEPTEMBER 
zation of the cell walls in the chalazal region and of the nucellar epidermis, 
which is completed while yet the embryo is spherical. The only pervious 
point is at the tip of the nucellus, where the pollen tube forms a globular 
swelling and sends branches through the inner integument which extend into 
the outer. These branches collect the food from the integuments, which are 
in communication with the nutritive tissues by the vascular bundles, and 
through the pollen tube it travels to the embryo.—C. R. B 
VINES finds® that Buscalioni and Fermi had anticipated some of his 
studies + apon proteolytic enzymes, vaielaca determined in 1898° by a different 
explains Mendel and Underhill’s results with papain); corrects Buscalioni 
and Fermi’s determination that dahlia roots are proteolytically inactive; and 
finds an enzyme in Crambe maritima which belongs to the erepsin group of 
proteases.—C. R. B 
IN A SERIES of researches on the physiology and morphology of alcoholic 
ferments, Hansen’? shows that in beer cultures Saccharomyces spores may 
develop into sporangia without vegetative division. They simply enlarge enor- 
mously and develop new spores in their interior. The maximum and minimum 
temperatures for growth as well as for sporulation in a number of species of 
Saccharomyces are given. Temperature does not seem to affect the formation 
of spores directly; the latter are formed with full access of oxygen and fail 
to be formed in its absence. Many special variations in the behavior of 
the different species are noted. Lack of nutriment checks growth, and under 
certain other conditions may appear to lead to spore production, but it is not 
itself a cause for this. Several other fungi are considered. Among other 
points, it is noted that Mucor produces zygospores under the same general 
conditions as those under which it.produces sporangia, but that zygospores 
need more oxygen for their formation.— B. E. LIVINGSTON. 
SPINDLE FORMATION at the first division of the pollen mother-cell of 
Larix europaea DC. has been described in great detail by Dr. Allen.” Late 
in October the pollen mother-cells are easily distinguished, but division does 
not occur until the following spring. Five stages in the formation of the 
spindle are described, viz., the preradial stages, the radial stages, formation 
® Vines, S. H. Proteolytic enzymes in plants. II. Annals of Botany 17:597~ 
616. 1903. 
9BUSCALIONI and FERMI, Studio degli any proteolytici e peptonizzanti dei 
vegetali. Annuario R. Ist. Bot. Roma 7:99. 
10 HANSEN, E. C., fae sur la tua et la morphologie des ferments 
alcoholiques. Compt. Rend. Labor. Carlsberg 5: 69-107. figs. 4. . 
™* ALLEN, C. E., The early stages of spindle formation in the pollen mother-cells 
of Larix. Ann. Botany 17: 281-312. pls. 1g-75. 1903 
