September 27, 1895.]' 



SCIENCE. 



405 



reviewed the current discussion of causes 

 of variation and showed that they are 

 concerned chiefly with those forms which 

 are congenital. Argument was then ad- 

 vanced to sliow that a given set of indi- 

 viduals starting equal may arrive at very 

 unlike destinies. These dissimilarities may 

 be impressed upon the offspring. 



13. Rejuvenation and Heredity^ by Chas. S. 

 MiNOT. The author ti-aced the role of the 

 embryonic type of cells in animals and 

 plants as a necessary predisposition of 

 structure for the action of heredity. The 

 role of the embryonic type of cells in both 

 animals and plants in reproduction and re- 

 generation was discussed for the purpose of 

 showing that their functions render it im- 

 possible to accept Weissman's theory of 

 heredity. 



At the close of the last paper the joint 

 session ended. On the afternoon of Mon- 

 day the final papers before Section G were 

 presented. These are given below : 



14. Poisoning by Broad-leaved Laurel 

 '(Kalinia latifolia), by Frederick V. Co- 

 viLLE, Washington, D. C. Read by title. 



15. The Number of Spore Mother Cells in 

 the Sporangia of Ferns, by Willis L. Jbpson, 

 Berkeley, Cal. This paper was presented 

 by Prof. Geo. F. Atkinson, and gave the 

 details of investigations to determine the 

 number of spore mother cells in the sporan- 

 gia of Pteris a-ethea, with comparisons of 

 other species of Pteridophyta. 



16. The Southern Tomato Blight, by Erwin 

 F. Smith, Washington, D. C. The author 

 reviewed his previous work on this subject, 

 and from the evidence obtained concludes 

 that the tomato wilt and cucumber wilt are 

 not identical ; that the tomato and potato 

 wilt are identical ; that various other solana- 

 ceous plants, including eggplant, are suscep- 

 tible to the disease ; that the cause of the 

 disease, as determined by inoculations, is a 

 bacillus, the biology of which has not been 

 fully worked out ; that the stinking wet rot 



is due apparently to one or more organisms 

 which follow in the path of the true para- 

 site ; and finally, that primary infection of 

 the plants as a rule takes place through the 

 parts above ground. 



17. Constancy of the Bacterial Flora of Fore 

 Milk, by H. L. Bolley, Fargo, N. Dak. 

 This paper was a report of investigations 

 on the constancy of species and phj'siolog- 

 ical types of bacteria in normal fore milk. 

 The experiment was conducted with ten 

 animals during three winter months and 

 three animals during the month of July. 

 The conclusion drawn by the author is that 

 species may be quite constant in the udder 

 of an individual animal, but that there is 

 little evidence of constancy among different 

 animals, even under similar conditions. 



18. A New California Liverwort, by Doug- 

 las H. Campbell, Palo Alto, Cal. The au- 

 thor gave a brief account of a new liver- 

 wort allied to Sphwrocarpus, collected near 

 San Diego, Cal. 



19. Personal Nomenclature in the Myxomy- 

 cetes, by 0. F. Cook, Huntington, N. Y. The 

 author claims that only the personal system 

 of nomenclature is used in the Myxomy- 

 cetes, naming Massee's Myxogastres and 

 Lister's Mycetozoa in substantiation of the 

 claim. The paper discusses the author's 

 view of the changes which will be necessary 

 should the priority system of nomenclature 

 be adopted. 



20. Root Fungus of Maize : Enantiomorphism 

 in Plants, by Geo. Macloskie, Princeton, 

 N. J. The root cap of the roots of maize 

 is described. The author believes that the 

 nature of the cap makes it a medium for 

 the luxuriant growth of a certain micro- 

 scopic fungus, and that this fungus may 

 possibly account for the ability of Gram- 

 incEe to extract nitrogenous food without 

 impoverishing the soil. The author claims 

 to have discovered two kinds of maize pro- 

 duced from the same ear, and states that 

 this diversity depends on place of origin of 



