January 28, 1898. ] 



SCIENOE. 



119 



The author announced the finding of two 

 new organs or organoids; the one, Vibrioid, 

 occurring abundantly in the superficial 

 layers of the protoplasm of some Sapro- 

 legniaceaB and Florideje, and the other a 

 central body in the developing egg of Al- 

 bugo candidus. Both have been observed 

 before but not correctly described. Both 

 are fally described in this paper. The 

 author can suggest nothing as to the func- 

 tion of the former, but thinks the latter 

 plays some part in the delimitation of the 

 egg within the oogonium, and the fusion of 

 the male and female nuclei. 



9. Ijfotes on the Archesporium and Nucleus of 

 Bignonia. Mb. B. M. Duggar, Cornell 

 University. 



The author gives a detailed account of 

 his observations on the microsporic and 

 macrosporic archesporium in this genus. 

 The archesporial nucleus is peculiar in pos- 

 sessing a large nucleolar-like structure 

 which does not stain homogeneously. 



10. Some Tlieories of Heredity and of the 

 Origin of Species Considered in Relation to 

 the Phenomena of Hybi-idization. Mr. 

 Walter T. Swingle, Department of 

 Agriculture. 



Owing to limited time, Mr. Swingle 

 treated only the part of his subject which 

 relates to facts of hybridization and their 

 bearing on theories of heredity. He cited 

 facts from his own observations and from 

 the literature which cannot be explained 

 by Weismann's theory of reduction of the 

 chromosomes. He considers it necessary 

 to assume, in some cases at least; a prede- 

 termination of the characters of the hybrid 

 at the time of the fusion of the male and 

 female nuclei. The male and female 

 chromosomes probably persist side by side 

 unchanged in number, and possibly un- 

 changed in quality, during the whole of the 

 ontogeny of the hybrid. It is also neces- 

 sary to assume that the influence exerted 



during ontogeny of the hybrid by the ma- 

 terial bearers of heredity is, at least in 

 some cases, a function of their relative po- 

 sitions. Xenia is well established and, to- 

 gether with cases where the mother-plant 

 influences the developing embryo, is inex- 

 plicable by most of the current theories of 

 heredity, and necessitates the assumption 

 that hereditary influences can be trans- 

 ported from cell to cell for some distance. 



1 1 . Variable Reaction of Plants and Animals to 

 Hydrocyanic Acid Gas. Mr. 'Albert F. 

 Woods, Department of Agriculture. 

 Plants of various families and in different 



stages of growth were subjected to varying 

 amounts of hydrocyanic acid gas, and were 

 found to be afiected by it in different degrees, 

 according to the kind of plant, its age, and 

 other conditions of growth and develop- 

 ment. Animals, mainly insects, were also 

 found to vary, even within the same family, 

 in like manner. Mites were the most re- 

 sistant of any of the organisms studied, 

 often recovering after several hours of com- 

 plete paralysis and apparent death. 



12. Effect of Alternating Dryness and Moisture 

 on the Germination of some Seeds. Mr. A. 

 J. PiETERS, Department of Agriculture. 

 The experiments recorded are preliminary 



to more extensive ones now in progress, but 

 they show clearly that for some seeds 

 germination is quickened by thorough drj'- 

 ing after a long period of dampness. In 

 most cases after a small percentage of 

 germination for the first one hundred days 

 or more, drying for two weeks followed by 

 wetting resulted in a germination of from 

 15 to 54 per cent, in a few days. In the 

 check pots, meanwhile, the seeds either did 

 not germinate or only a small per cent, did 

 so. 



13. Experiments on the Morphology of Ariscema 

 triphyllum. Professor G. F. Atkinson, 

 Cornell University. 



The author described his experiments by 



