September 17^ 1915] 



SCIENCE 



395 



Francis E. Lloyd, of McGill "University, de- 

 scribed his study of the Japanese persimmon, in 

 which he found the presence of an emulsion col- 

 loid, which when it coagulated not only fixed the 

 tannin, thus making the fruit palatable, but also 

 caused a change in color of the flesh. In a second 

 paper on " Intra-ovarial Treatments: Methods and 

 Results, " he said: "In pursuance of earlier in- 

 vestigations, and in the hope of reaching the egg- 

 cell directly by means of reagents which might 

 possibly permanently disturb the germ-plasm, 

 Torenia Founieri has been studied. In spite of 

 the protuberant embryo-sac, bringing the egg- 

 apparatus into a position of apparently maximum 

 exposure, its position in contact with the pla- 

 centa, together with other mechanical relations, 

 precludes the object sought. The course of reag- 

 ents (using methylene blue as a criterion) injected 

 into the placenta is essentially identical with that 

 earlier described for Scroplmlaria (Carn. Inst. 

 Wash., Ann. Eep. 1914, p. 77). It has further 

 been discovered that the mutual adjustments of 

 the elements of the egg-apparatus and embryo-sac, 

 which show a diffusion pressure equivalent to that 

 of a O.IN KN03 solution, are so delicate that ac- 

 cess to tap-water is followed by bursting of the syn- 

 ergidse and partial extrusion of the hydrocellulosio 

 beak material, thus precluding the use of dilute 

 watery solutions in immediate contact with the 

 embryo-sac. ' ' 



Sarkis Boshnakian, of Cornell University, de- 

 scribed a new checkerboard method of representing 

 Mendelian segregation, and gave a coefficient of 

 squarehead form necessary for the statistical study 

 of density in wheat. 



W. B. McCallum, of San Diego, Calif., described 

 the cultivation of several million plants of guayule 

 {Parthenum argentatum'), a Mexican plant which 

 produces rubber. Although regarded as a single 

 species, the plant has been found to have at least 

 125 forms, varying widely and all breeding true. 



E. F. Gaines, Washington State Experiment Sta- 

 tion, gave a brief account of results obtained by 

 crossing wheats and barleys differing in two or 

 more unit factors. Both dominance and lack of 

 dominance have been secured in different cases, 

 and one ease of triplicate identical factors, cumu- 

 lative in effect, was reported. 



C. C. Vincent, Idaho Experiment Station, made 

 a preliminary report on apple-breeding projects at 

 that station. He told of the need of new varieties 

 and described some thousands of crosses that have 

 been made. 



H. E. Knowlton, of Cornell University, describ- 

 ing studies in pollen germination with special ref- 

 erence to longevity, reported that pollen of the 

 snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) remained viable 

 longest when kept at low temperature. Pollen 

 stored at — 17° to — 23° C. for six weeks gave a 

 fair percentage of germination in sugar solution, 

 and moreover some of the flowers pollinated with 

 it produced seeds. 



Arthur W. Gilbert, Cornell University, "Color 

 Inheritance in Phlox drummmidi." "The follow- 

 ing unit characters were found in the four varieties 

 of Phlox drummondi VaaX were used in these ex- 

 periments: (1) A dark eye factor producing a 

 dense coloration at the center of the flower. This 

 was dominant over its absence, the white eye, 

 which was exhibited in more or less of a defijiite 

 pattern. (2) A blue factor. (3) A red factor. 

 (4) An intensifying factor which determines the 

 degree of pigmentation of the reds. (5) A yellow 

 factor which acts only in the presence of the eye 

 factor. The reds and blues are cell-sap colors, and 

 the yellow is due to the presence of yellow chromo- 

 plasts. ' ' 



Alfred C. Hottes, of Cornell University, discussed 

 the practical hybridization of the gladiolus. It is 

 a genus of about one hundred and thirty species, 

 mostly natives of South Africa, a few from 

 Europe. Approximately fifteen species have been 

 cultivated or used in hybridization, so that this 

 flower offers an excellent example of a flower im- 

 proved by the incorporation of a number of species. 

 The work has been carried on chiefly without refer- 

 ence to laws of inheritance; each species has trans- 

 mitted to some hybrid a desirable feature which has 

 been selected and impressed upon other hybrids. 



George F. Freeman, of the University of Ari- 

 zona, ' ' Inheritance of Quality in Wheat. ' ' A num- 

 ber of recent investigators have declared that 

 wheat quality is dependent on environment, and 

 that the breeder could not control it. Careful re- 

 view of all the work done shows this conclusion to 

 be erroneous. Qualitative factors in wheat are to 

 a large degree dependable and controllable. 



John W. Gilmore, of the University of Cali- 

 fornia, illustrated the wide variability of rye 

 grasses and told of the possibilities for the prac- 

 tical breeder. 



George L. Zundel, Cornell University, spoke on 

 disease resistance in celery. Preliminary experi- 

 ments were carried on at Cornell University by 

 the writer to test the relative susceptibility of 

 varieties of celery to the fungus Septoria petrose- 

 lini Desm. var. apii Br. et Cav. No variety was 



