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a nutritive function. But such structures are not confined to 
the Sympetalae, for Miss Benson’ has found in several mem- 
bers of the Amentiferae a vermiform extension of the embryo- 
sac which reaches toward the chalaza 
The form assumed by the embryo is remarkably uniform 
from the first. Usually two or three transverse divisions of 
the odspore result in the formation of a proembryo and a 
rudimentary suspensor which lasts but a short time. Subse- 
quent divisions proceed with no perceptible regularity until a 
globular or pyriform mass is formed. After this stage the 
embryo becomes broadened distally and the cotyledons ap- 
pear. At the same time there is an internal marking off of 
root-cap and dermatogen. Subsequent growth develops the 
cotyledons and the growing point of the stem is organized 
very late. 
In many of the sympetalous families the forms of the em- 
bryo are quite different from those in the Cucurbitaceae. In 
the Campanulaceae Tulasne® found that the odspore of Cam- 
panula elongates to ten or twelve times its diameter, and then 
forms near its outer end two or three transverse walls, the 
terminal cell being the proembryo. In the Rubiaceae and in 
the Globulariaceae an extensive suspensor is developed. But 
the different degrees of development which the suspensor 
may reach is so varied throughout the angiosperms that this 
feature is of little value as a means of determining relation- 
ships. 
As to the systematic position of the Cucurbitaceae, the facts 
at hand will hardly justify any sweeping conclusions. Too 
little is yet known of the exact course of intra-seminal devel- 
opment in this and in other families supposed to be closely 
related. Of the eighty or more genera of this family but a 
few have been carefully studied, and while these are quite 
representative and the results uniform, still it would no doubt 
be advantageous to know the conditions existing in some 
other members of the Fevilleae, e. g., Alsomitra and Zanonza. 
This is desirable from the fact that Mevzllea itself presents 
conditions less at variance with those found in others of the 
