456 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 377. 



A return message was ordered sent to 

 President Erwin F. Smith. The secretary 

 was directed to arrange for contiguous 

 seats for botanists at the annual dinner. 

 Charles P. Millspaugh extended a formal 

 invitation to all botanists to visit the Field 

 Columbian Museum. 



The reading of papers was resumed: 



Conway MacMillan : ' A Marine Bio- 

 logical Station on the Straits of Fuea.' A 

 series of lantern slides were shown illus- 

 trating the buildings and surroundings of 

 the Minnesota Seaside Biological Station 

 on the Straits of Fuca. Among the views 

 were a number illustrating the kelp forma- 

 tion of the Vancouver coast and several 

 photomicrographs of the anatomy of Ptcry- 

 gopliora californica Rupr., a plant upon 

 which particular study had been expended. 

 The excellence of the locality as a field 

 for station activities was pointed out and 

 some of the plans for the coming summer 

 were indicated. 



Harold L. Lyon :_ ' The Phylogeny of 

 the Cotyledon.' Modern researches in 

 angiospermic embryology have shown the 

 prevalent foliar theory of cotyledons to be 

 untenable. A careful survey of the in- 

 vestigations already recorded has led to the 

 following conclusions, (a) The typical 

 embryos of the Pteridophytes and Angio- 

 sperms differentiate into three primary 

 members — the cotyledon, stem and root. 

 (&) Cotyledons are not arrested leaves, but 

 are primarily haustorial organs originating 

 phylogenetically as the nursing-foot in the 

 Bryophytes and persisting throughout the 

 higher plants, (c) The monoeotyledonous 

 condition is the primitive one and pre- 

 vails in the Bryophytes, Pteridophytes, 

 Monocotyls and some Gymnosperms. The 

 two (sometimes more) cotyledons of the 

 Dicotyls are jointly the homologue of the 

 single cotyledon of the Monocotyls. (d) 

 The cotyledon always occurs at the base of 



the primary stem, (e) The hypocotyl is 

 a structure peculiar to the Angiosperms, 

 being differentiated between the primary 

 stem and root. (/) The so-called cotyle- 

 dons of the Pteridophytes, and Gymno- 

 sperms, with the exception of Ginkgo and 

 the Cycads, are true foliage-leaves. 



E. Mead Wilcox: 'Valvular Torsion as 

 a Means of Seed-dispersal in Eicinus.' 

 For the purpose of securing accurate data 

 regarding the efficiency of valvular torsion 

 for seed-dispersal in Ricinus, a plant was 

 selected, growing in an open field. The 

 ground about this plant was divided into 

 four quadrants designated, N.E., S.E., 

 S.W. and N.W. The surface was frequent- 

 ly cultivated so that the seeds would not 

 be blown about by -winds after falling. 

 The following table shows the distances to 

 which seeds were thrown, measured from 

 the base of the plant. The plant was 104 

 cm. in height and the inflorescence, at ma- 

 turity, was 36 cm. in length: 



The greatest distance to which any seed 

 was thrown was 325 cm. On 12 of the 19 

 days upon which observations were made 

 the ^\^nd was from the south. 



Cyrus A. King : ' Fertilization and 

 Some Accompanying Phenomena in Aj'aio- 

 spora pulchra, one of the Aquatic Phy- 

 eomycetes.' Araiospora has the habit of 

 Saprolegnia, growing attached to twigs in 

 water. Both genus and species were estab- 

 lished by Thaxter in 1896. The sexual or- 

 gans resemble those of the Peronosporinece. 



