INTRODUCTION 了 
most is rounded and swollen. The cells from the middle of these 
branches send out secondary branches here and there, so that the 
proembryo as a result of this richness of branching simulates a 
bunch of grapes. Out of the lower end of this mass projects the 
primary cell row of the proembryo whose terminal cell develops 
into the embryo proper. Thus Hofmeister's description of the 
suspensor in the genera above named, one in the main correct, 
but requiring modification, as will hereafter be seen. He passes 
over without criticism and accepts as final the opinion which he 
attributes to Schleiden that the endosperm breaks through the 
integument. 
In Houstonia and Spermacoce the embryo-sac is of less slender 
form and somewhat cylindrical, and here, on the other hand, the 
antipodal cells are present. The embryo-sac is here also soon 
filled with endosperm, although the proembryo remains a very 
simple thread of cells from the last of which the embryo proper 
arises. 
It is unfortunate that no figures of these forms are given so 
that it is difficult to estimate exactly the value of the author's 
descriptions. 
The only other plant of the Rubiaceae. which has received any 
attention is the coffee (Coffea arabica), but such work as has been 
done does not touch upon the ground of the present paper except 
in a remote way. An account of the literature of this subject may 
be found in the footnotes of an article by T. F. Hanausek.* 
I desire at this point to express my appreciation of the kindness 
of Professor Ignatius Urban in putting the collection of growing 
Rubiaceae in the Botanical Garden at Berlin at my disposal, and 
my gratitude to Professor K. Goebel for his generosity in extend- 
ing to me the courtesy of the laboratory and gardens of the 
Botanical Institute in Múnchen during six weeks of the summer 
of 1898, and in expending much of his own time in discussion and 
suggestion when ۳ could ill afford, on account of pressing duties, 
to do so. 
* Ueber symmetrische und polyembryonische Samen von Coffea arabica L. ۰ 
D: B. 6.29: 73. 1395. 
