62 



Professor Lloyd in discussion suggested that different parts of 

 the ovule may be able to secrete different kinds of enzymes, 

 ready to attack different kinds of tissue simultaneously; at least 

 three different enzymes have been obtained by mechanical means 

 from the yeast-plant. In certain of the Rubiaceae, the formation 

 of enzymes in the megaspore antedates fertilization ; and that the 

 pollen-tube develops an enzyme is well known. 



The final contribution of the evening was by Dr. N. L. Britton, 

 on the morphology of the flower of Dichondra, a plant commonly 

 assigned to the Convolvulaceae. A specimen is now in full 

 blossom under glass at the Botanical Garden, and its little rotate 

 flowers which resemble those of a saxifrage are highly incon- 

 gruous with those of the Convolvulaceae. 



Edward S. Burgess, 



Secretary. 



NEWS ITEMS 



Professor Charles R. Barnes, of the University of Chicago, 

 sailed from New York for Europe on March 22. He plans to 

 be abroad for about nine months. 



Professor F. S. Earle left New York on March 24 to spend 

 two months in the mountains of New Mexico and western Texas, 

 making collections for the New York Botanical Garden. 



Mr. R. M. Harper has been appointed temporary aid in the 

 herbarium of the U. S. National Museum. After a month he 

 will proceed to Georgia to continue his field work on the flora of 

 that state. 



The moss collections of the late Mr. David A. Burnett, of 

 Bradford, Pa., have been purchased by Mrs. Annie Morrill Smith, 

 and presented to the museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts 

 and Sciences. 



Dr. D. T. MacDougal returned to New York on March 13 

 from a six weeks' visit to Arizona and the State of Sonora, 

 Mexico, bringing back several large living specimens of C ereus 

 giganteus and other living plants peculiar to that region for the 

 conservatories of the New York Botanical Garden. 



