187 



"A study was made of the developmental behavior of the apical meristem 

 in three species of Lycopcrsicon, L. esculcntum, L. raccmigenim, L. pimpi- 

 ncIlijoUiim. A direct correlation was found between the size of the meristem 

 at any given stage and the size of the determinate organs of the plant. 

 Generally, the volume of the apical meristem increases as the plant grows. 

 There is also a parallel increase in organ size. There is a progressive 

 decrease in meristem cell size during development presumably because cell 

 division takes place more rapidly than protoplasmic synthesis. This pro- 

 gressive decrease in cell size during development is attended by a similar 

 decrease in nuclear size except that for a short time either during or imme- 

 diately following germination there is an increase in nuclear volume. Both 

 cells and nuclei reach a constant minimal volume when the plants begin to 

 mature. It is suggested that this progressive decrease in cell and nuclear 

 size at the meristem may be characteristic of indeterminate growth as opposed 

 to determinate growth as in the development of fruit tissues where a pro- 

 gressive increase in cell size is the rule." 



Clyde Chandler 



Recording Secretary 



NEWS NOTES 



Dr. Laetitia M. Snow, professor of botany at Wellesley Col- 

 lege, retired from active service at the close of the last academic 

 year with the title of professor emeritus. She will make her home 

 in" Pacific Grove, Calif., where she will continue her research 

 at the Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University. 



John H. Lovell died at Sanford, Me., on August 2. He was 

 seventy-eight years old. He had devoted many years to the study 

 of the relation of northern plants to their environment, methods 

 of pollination, relation of flower colors to insect visitors and other 

 topics. He was the author of The Flower and the Bee and The 

 Honey Plants of North America. Since 1926 he had contributed 

 daily articles on New England plants to the Boston Globe and to 

 other New England papers. 



A Nature Essay Contest 



An essay contest, open to all nature lovers and ofifering cash 

 prizes totaling $225, is announced by Claremont Colleges, Clare- 

 mont, Calif. Manuscripts should be of suitable length for magazine 

 publication but should not exceed 3,000 words, and must reach 

 the judges before February 1, 1940. 



The contest, sponsoring officials state, is part of a project to 

 foster interest in the study of nature and to encourage an appre- 



