244 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [APRIL 
were totally unaffected, while the reagent would come into con- 
tact with a good number in such manner that it might or might 
not penetrate to the egg apparatus. The shock of the operation 
is sufficient to cause the entire ovary to be cast off in many species, 
and for these the method was devised later of using vapors and 
gases, such as bromine. The surviving ovaries were allowed to 
‘ripen in the usual manner, and the seeds duly sowed in pans of 
fine soil which had been sterilized in an autoclave for several hours. 
Singularly gratifying results were obtained from these first two 
plants. 
The first experimental test was made with Raimannia. Sixteen 
seedlings were secured, some from ovaries treated with sugar 
solution, others from ovaries injected with zinc sulphate, and 
others with calcium nitrate, which were identical in their general 
characters, being, first of all, annuals in contrast with the bian- 
nuality of the parent. This entailed, of course, the continuous 
formation of elongated internodes from the start, the develop- 
ment of rosettes being due to a stage in stem formation in which 
the internodes are not separable by external measurements. 4 € 
cycle of stem formation was therefore a simple curve, starting 
with a minimum for the seedling, waxing to a maximum, thes 
decreasing with the formation of flowers in the terminal portions, 
in contrast with the parent, in which the curve is nearly mt ; = 
the first season, coming to zero at its end, then rising and falling 
as in the derivative. 
Another feature no less striking was that of the glabrosity of. 
the derivatives, the villous and ciliary hairs of the parent being 
wholly lacking, no trichomes whatever being formed, these plan® 
being the only evening primroses lacking epidermal extrusions: 
A number of the second generation were grown, but the third gen- 
eration was not brought to maturity by reason of incidents attend: 
ant upon my removal to the Desert Laboratory in 1906. 
The results obtained with Oenothera biennis were much more 
conclusive, and have been followed in such manner as to leave but 
little doubt as to the nature and character of the changes induced: 
Among the seedlings grown from seeds produced by ovaries treate 
with a zinc solution, early in 1906, was one (erroneously given 4° 
