42 T O R R E Y A 



Minutes of the Meeting of April 4, 1944 



The meeting was called to order at 8 :20 p.m. by President Levine in Room 

 603 of Schermerhorn Hall, Columbia University. Eighteen members and 

 friends were present. The minutes of the preceding meeting were accepted as 

 read. 



Dr. Levine introduced the speaker. Professor George H. Shull, whose sub- 

 ject was "Some Genetical Studies with Capsella." Dr. Schull discussed the re- 

 sults of his investigations into the various aspects of the genetics of this genus 

 and suggested some problems still to be solved. The talk was illustrated with 

 lantern slides. 



Following discussion of the paper, the meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m. 



Respectfully submitted, 



hoxor m. hollinghurst 

 Recording Secretary 



Minutes of the Meeting of April 19, 1944 



The meeting was called to order at 3 :30 p.m. by President Levine in the 

 Members' Room of The New York Botanical Garden. Twenty- five members 

 and guests were present. The minutes of the preceding meeting were accepted 

 as read. 



The scientific program consisted of a talk by Mr. Jerome Metzner on "The 

 Morphology, Cytology and Taxonomy of Volvox" which was illustrated with 

 lantern slides. The speaker's abstract follows : 



Although Volvox has been investigated frequently since its discovery by Leeuwenhoek 

 (1719), many gaps in our knowledge of it remain. The phenomenon of inversion dis- 

 covered by Kuschakewitsch (1922) has been worked out in detail by Pocock (1933, 1938) 

 for certain African species of Volvox. Zimmerman (1921) has published the only detailed 

 study of mitosis and meiosis in a species of Volvox — V. aureus. Fertilization has never 

 been observed in any species of Volvox although some workers have presented evidence 

 that it does occur. Other workers have shown that some of the eggs of Volvox develop 

 parthenogenetically. It has been shown (Uspenski, 1925) that V. aureus and V. globator 

 have a high iron nutritional requirement and that these species can be maintained success- 

 fully in laboratory cultures if regular additions of iron salts are made to the culture 

 medium. 



V. Cartcri var. Hazcni is a new variety of this species which is closely related to the 

 European species V. tcrtius. Asexual reproduction is accomplished characteristically by 

 the production of eight daughter colonies in which the reproductive cells are differentiated 

 at about the 64-celled stage. In sexual reproduction this species is heterothallic. Female 

 colonies produce 18-20 eggs. Male colonies are dwarf and produce about 50 bundles of 

 spermatozoids. It seems probable that a large number of eggs develop parthenogenetically. 

 About 90% germination was secured in oospore germination experiments. It was possible 

 to secure germination of oospores within 10 days after their release from a female colony. 



