1900] CURRENT LITERATURE 139 
work of the hybridization of oranges and other citrous fruits was done in con- 
nection with Mr. W. T. Swingle. The aim has been to secure a hardy 
orange, one with the loose skin of the mandarin, various changes in quality, 
and resistance to diseases. In the experiments upon pineapple hybridization 
the problems presented are to secure better shipping kinds, those with smooth 
leaves, those resistant to disease, and those with larger fruits and of better 
quality." The main purpose in the experiments on cotton hybridization has 
been to improve the upland cotton of the interior by means of the fine Sea 
Island cotton that at present is grown in such a limited area. In experi- 
ments on corn hybridization very few of the important problems have been 
taken up as yet. Something has been done in the direction of the develop- 
ment of the better yielding races. It is in connection with these experiments 
upon corn that Mr. Webber has developed a remarkable series of results 
fig Bs the immediate effect of pollen, a phenomenon known as xenia.— 
» mG. 
; A SECOND PAPER has appeared on the fertilization of Batrachospermum 
sinc€é my account in 1896. Osterhout* agrees with Schmidle that a sperm 
nucleus passes through the trichogyne into the carpogonium and unites with 
the female nucleus there, and he figures a stage in the process of fusion. 
Osterhout also is unable to find a nucleus in the trichogyne. It will be 
remembered that Schmidle 3 reported that the sperms contained two nuclei, 
one of which fertilized the carpogonium and the other remained in the sperm 
°r passed into the trichogyne. Osterhout observed only one nucleus in the 
ve etiore than one sperm fuses with the trichogyne, their nuclei may 
“nter that structure, but they finally become disorganized. Nuclei that 
remain in the Sperms also break down. 
oo pasterial was fixed after several methods, but that killed in 
8S Strong solution gave the best results. The microtome sections 
Sit ii aan Flemming’s triple stain or with haematoxylin after the 
be much bett oe. The preparations, to judge from the figures, must 
M.D er than any that have yet been made of this plant.— BRADLEY 
- Davis, 
on i ey a — Miss J. Gowan “ have published an extensive paper 
cerning es n historical account of the development of knowledge one 
of its structu most interesting plant is followed by a detailed description 
Separation % zegs an account of its fossil allies. The authors approve its 
= Osten a distinct group of gymnosperms, and confirm its cycad 
3 Somes poneang bei Batrachospermum. Flora 87 : 109. ae 
Batrachospermun: Pislaes iiber die Befruchtung, Keimung, und Haarinsertion yon 
Z » Bot. Zeit. 57: 125. 1899. 
$10 
Th : : 
OE apis tree (Gingko biloba L.). Annals of Botany 14: 109-154- - 
