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6. Basal part of duplicate blade, showing sharp serrations and elongated cells 
at base. 
4. Capsule with incurved peristome when moist. 
8. Capsule with erect peristome when dry. 
9. Teeth enlarged to show trabeculate and ciliate base and spiral apex. 
10. Smooth spores. 
CONFERENCE NOTES FOR APRIL 
A conference of the scientific staff and registered students of 
the Garden was held on the afternoon of April 2, at which the 
following program was presented: 
“Further data on the behavior of intermediates between sugar 
and starch corns,’”’ by Professor R. A. Harper. 
“Phylogeny within the genus Afzelia,” by Dr. F. W. Pennell. 
Professor Harper exhibited specimens showing the results of 
crossing sugar and starch corns and illustrating the results of 
subsequent selection for intermediate races such as he had 
previously reported as possibly valuable as meal corns. He 
presented further data as to these races when intercrossed and 
back-crossed upon the parent races. In both cases they transmit 
more or less fully their special characters in the new combinations. 
Dr. Pennell’s report was an account of the trend of evolution 
in the genus Afzelia of the Scrophulariaceae. This group was 
studied at the University of Pennsylvania, and the detailed 
results are yet to be published. The work was introduced now 
because this genus presents a remarkably clear series of stages 
in the evolution of the flowers. 
The most primitive groups are the Virgatae, comprising six 
species that are perennials, and the Laciniatae, of one annual 
species native of southern Mexico. In these the flower ap- 
proaches closely that normal to this subtribe, the Agalinanae. 
The corolla is campanulate, its lobes shorter than the tube, and 
it is pubescent within at the base of the upper lobes. The 
filaments in some species are flattened and ribbon-like through 
almost their entire length, in others toward the apex they are 
abruptly contracted and from that point filamentous. The 
anther-sacs open by an orifice extending their entire length. 
