Decembeb 20, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



873 



a character not found in the other, while mere 

 color variations, attributable to climatic condi- 

 tions, point to geographical races. 



Whether Mendelian principles will or will 

 not explain the complicated plumage char- 

 acters of the j uncos, here at least there seems 

 to be a promising field for experimental re- 

 search to supplement the facts derived from 

 field study. 



The paper was illustrated by a large series 

 of specimens brought together by Dr. Dwight 

 for his investigations, and representing col- 

 lections in all parts of the country. 



The meeting then adjourned. 



EoY Waldo Miner, 

 Secretary of Section 



THE TOREEY BOTANICAL CLUB 



The club met at the American Museum of 

 Natural History on November 12, 1907. The 

 meeting was called to order by Dr. J. H. Barn- 

 hart. Dr. E. B. Southwick was elected chair- 

 man. In the absence of the secretary. Miss 

 W. J. Robinson was elected secretary pro tern. 

 Eleven persons were present. 



The following scientific program was pre- 

 sented : 



Demonstration of Regeneration in Drosera: 



Winifred J. Eobinson. 



Miss Robinson observed regeneration in the 

 leaves of plants of Drosera rotundifolia which 

 ehe had under observation for experimental 

 purposes, at the propagating house of the New 

 York Botanical Garden, in August, 1907. 

 Young plants appeared upon old and appar- 

 ently dead leaves which were attached to the 

 plant and were at first thought to be seedlings 

 which had penetrated the leaf tissue in their 

 growth. Sections showed that this was not 

 the case but that the young plant grew from 

 the cells of the old tissue which had remained 

 in an embryonic condition. No formation of 

 callus was observed. Regeneration occurred 

 with equal facility from blade or petiole of 

 the leaf or from the flower stalk. The first 

 leaves of the young plant bear no tentacles, 

 but later leaves are exactly like those of the 

 parent plant. The roots appear after the stem 

 has attained some size and are at first dia- 



geotropic, but later bend toward the sub- 

 stratum. 



Drosera is not mentioned in recent literature 

 upon regeneration but Spencer in his " Prin- 

 ciples of Biology," 1867, referred to the subject 

 as a matter of common knowledge. Naudin 

 recorded the appearance of a bud tipon the 

 upper surface of the leaf of D. intermedia in 

 Ann. Sci. Nat., II., 14: 14, pZ. 1, fig. 6, 1840. 

 Planchon gave his observations ■ upon certain 

 " monstroiis flower&" of D. intermedia in Ann. 

 Sci. Nat., III., 9: 86, pi. 5 and 6, 1853. His 

 observations were verified by various later 

 writeTs. The most extended study of regen- 

 eration in D. rotundifolia was made by 

 Nitschke, professor at Westphalia, whose in- 

 vestigations were printed in the Bot. Zeit. 8: 

 239, 237, 245, 1860. He studied plants in the 

 bogs and observed that the age of a plant 

 could be determined by the successive rings 

 of young plants about it. 



Photographs of regenerating plants and of 

 sections showing relation of the regenerating 

 tissue to the parent plant were shown, also 

 specimens in alcohol, demonstrating the origia 

 of young plants from petiole and blade of 

 leaf and from the flower stalk. 



Notes on Tumhoa (Welwitschia) : Norman 



Taylor. 



After a short account of the history and 

 synonymy of Tumhoa Bainesii {Welwitschia 

 mirabilis), a general description of the mature 

 plant was given. Attention was called to the 

 peculiar characters of Tumhoa, which is 

 exogenous in the two cotyledons and the 

 2^-merous perianth, endogenous in the 

 parallel-veined leaves and six stamens, angio- 

 spermous in the general structure of tha 

 flower, and gymnospermous in the naked ovula 

 and typical " cone " flowers. 



Particular mention was made of the seed- 

 ling, of which there are two now growing at 

 the New York Botanical Garden. In germi- 

 nation the two ligulate cotyledons appear 

 first above the soil, followed by the two 

 nepionic leaves, at first erroneously supposed 

 to develop into the only two leaves that the 

 plant ever has during the conjectural one 

 hundred years of its life, but this interpreta- 



