Maech 2, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



221 



Per Cent. 

 Treatment Germination 



None 



Boiled 5 seconds 53 



Boiled 30 seconds 60 



BoUed 60 seconds 60 



Soaked in cold water 12 hours 



Soaked in cold water 12 hours and boiled 



5 seconds 47 



Soaked in cold water 12 hours and boiled 



30 seconds 87 



Soaked in cold water 12 hours and boiled 



60 seconds 93 



Buffalo clover is scattered over many states 

 as a wild plant, but is cultivated nowliere. It 

 somewhat resembles red clover in general ap- 

 pearance and habit of growth, but is smaller. 

 Its leaves are narrower and more sharply 

 pointed and its head, when dead ripe, turns 

 over and hangs down like the heads of white 

 clover. It is large enough to have value if it 

 has other desirable qualities. 



The writer obtained the idea of soaking the 

 seed before boiling from similar experiments 

 with bur clover by the Alabama Experiment 

 Station. The fundamental experiment of boil- 

 ing the seed of both species was original, how- 

 ever, with the writer. A. D. MdSTAm 



GOLDFISH AS EMBRYOLOGICAL MATERIAL 



Few laboratories have at their disposal a 

 constant supply of material for the study of 

 living embryology. Frog and snail eggs are 

 used occasionally, but the supply is uncertain 

 and sometimes difficult to obtain in the right 

 stages, and furthermore, these ova are not par- 

 ticularly favorable for study. While engaged 

 in an investigation on the genetics of gold- 

 fish the availability of the eggs of this animal 

 for studies on the living embryo became evi- 

 dent and led to this note. 



Goldfish are readily obtained in almost 

 every locality and are thoroughly normal in 

 environments in which few wild fish could 

 exist. They breed in tanks containing not 

 more than fifteen or twenty gallons of water 

 and consequently require no elaborate or ex- 

 tensive equipment. Cypress boxes a foot or 

 more square and three feet long make excellent 

 breeding tanks. 



A half dozen pairs or less will supply ample 



material for class use. It is not necessary to 

 have as many males as females. It is well to 

 obtain fish at least four or more inches long, 

 as the larger fish are more certain to mate and 

 are much more prolific. It is impossible to dis- 

 tinguish the sexes except as the breeding sea- 

 son approaches, when the sides of the female 

 become distended through the growth of the 

 ovaries and small spiny projections appear on 

 the operculum and the anterior edge of the 

 pectoral fins of the male. 



One or two months before the breeding sea- 

 son begins it is advisable to feed the adults 

 small quantities of beef, liver, mosquito larvaa 

 or worms several times a week, which 

 strengthens the fish and often advances the 

 mating season. If the fish have been properly 

 fed in the fall, spawning may begin as early 

 as January or February if the aquarium is in 

 a fairly warm place, although I have seldom 

 obtained eggs before March or April. 



During the season goldfish spawn at inter- 

 vals of two weeks or longer and experienced 

 breeders say that large vigorous females may 

 breed as frequently as eight times during the 

 spring, though in my work four or five matings 

 have been more usual. The number of eggs 

 spawned ranges from a few hundred to sev- 

 eral thousand at a period, depending on the 

 size of the female, and consequently the sea- 

 son's production, even allowing for unfertilized 

 ova, is very great. 



Goldfish spawn in the morning for periods 

 varying from two to eight hours. The female 

 discharges a small quantity of eggs against 

 some water plant and the male, who is at her 

 side at the time, fertilizes the eggs in the water. 

 The feathery roots of the water hyacinth seem 

 to be preferred, although the water plants, 

 myriophyllum and cobomba are very satis- 

 factory. The eggs adhere to the plants and 

 may be removed on them. When it is desirable 

 to time the fertilization accurately the plants 

 may be removed as fast as the ova are dis- 

 charged against them and others substituted. 

 Though the eggs may be removed from the 

 thread-like leaves or roots of the water plants 

 generally these threads do not interfere and 

 make a convenient handle for moving and 



