316 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 373. 



upon the Sacramento forests of New Mexico, 

 the typist made me say that trees 25 feet in 

 diameter were quite copimon. It was my in- 

 tention to say 'trees from two to five feet,' etc. 

 Egbert T. Hill. 



SHORTER ARTICLES. 

 NOTE ON THE EMBRYO OF NYMPH^EA. 



Although the mature embryo of Nym- 

 phwa Sm. has been frequently figured and de- 

 scribed during the last half century as typic- 

 ally dicotyledonous, the interesting paper 

 of Mr. Lyon on Nelumho (Minnesota Bot. 

 Studies, Ser. H., Part 5, p. 645-55, PI. 48-50) 

 made a further investigation desirable. Hav- 

 ing already considerable material in hand with 

 a view to a careful study of the genus (which 

 is approaching completion), I have examined 

 the mature and germinating embryos of sev- 

 eral species, and studied the development in 

 three members of widely differing sub-genera, 

 viz., N. odorata Ait., N. ccerulea Sav., and N. 

 Lotus L. The course of events seems identical 

 in all of these. A suspensor of three to five 

 cells in linear series is formed, upon which a 

 'spherical embryo' of some hundreds of cells 

 develops as described by Mr. Lyon for 

 Nelumho. This is embedded in a soft mass 

 of endosperm at the micropylar end of the 

 ovule; three fourths of the length of the seed 

 is occupied with perisperm. The spherical 

 embryo, however, unlike that of Nelumho, 

 gives rise to two opposite and symmetrical 

 outgrowths near its lower end. These become 

 the two equal cotyledons. The intervening 

 apical portion of the sphere becomes the plu- 

 mule, with the rudiments of two unequally de- 

 veloped leaves. The basal portion of the 

 sphere becomes the radicle. At maturity the 

 embryo exhibits two thick, concave, hemispher- 

 ical cotyledons, applied against each other all 

 round by their edges; while the central con- 

 cavity is occupied by the plumule. The 

 endosperm is now reduced to a single layer of 

 cells and a line of thin crushed walls between 

 these and the cotyledons. A large amount of 

 oil is stored in the embryo and endosperm, 

 with a little starch and some proteid. The 

 perisperm is densely packed with starch. 



It seems necessary, in view of these facts, 

 to modify Mr. Lyon's classification of 

 Nymphseacese among the Helobise. If we are 

 to consider the development of Nelumho as 

 strictly monocotyledonous, then it must be 

 separated as a distinct order, as some writers 

 have already placed it. However, we would 

 prefer to interpret the peculiar embryogeny 

 of Nelumho as a modified form of dicotyled- 

 ony. The symmetry of the early embryonic 

 vascular system supports this view; and the 

 decurrence of the cotyledons around the 

 radicle is paralleled in Tropoeolum. Further, 

 a complete fusion of the cotyledons along one 

 edge has been noted in Nuphar lutea by 

 Hegelmaier, as quoted by Henslow, and a 

 much more pronounced ' pseudo-monocotyled- 

 ony' is seen in Trapa natans. Ranunculus 

 ficaria, etc. A number of striking examples 

 and suggestions in this connection are fol- 

 lowed up by Henslow in his paper on 'A 

 Theoretical Origin of Endogens from Exo- 

 gens' in Journ. Linn. Soc, London, 29; 485- 

 528, and in his 'Origin of Plant Structures,' 

 pp. 136-79. Mr. Lyon's observations have 

 numerous interesting bearings on Henslow's 

 theory. 



Henry S. Conard. 



University of Pennsylvania. 



WILLIAM LE ROY BROUN. 



Dr. William Le Eoy Broun (M.A., LL.D.), 

 president of the Alabama Polj^technie Insti- 

 tute, died suddenly on January 23. He was 

 one of the foremost educators of the country, 

 and, from time to time, had been prominently 

 associated with the leading educational insti- 

 tutions in the South. 



In recent years he was conspicuous for the 

 great work he accomplished as a pioneer in 

 the field of technical education. Since 1884 

 he had been president of the Alabama Poly- 

 technic Institute, and under his wise and pro- 

 gressive guidance this institution had been 

 developed into a highly successful and widely 

 known college of applied science. His death 

 will be an immense loss to the cause of South- 

 ern, indeed of national, education. 



He was a native of Virginia, bom in Lou- 



