r9rt] CURRENT LITERATURE 317 
to show three to five segments. The spindle of the first division is transverse 
to the long axis of the basidium, as in the whole series of Basidiomycetes, 
_ beginning with the Tremellales. The processes of division are very obscure, 
but there appeared to be three or four chromosomes at each pole in the ana- 
s 
nuclei. It results in the distribution of the components of the double chro- 
mosomes to the new nuclei. Two chromosomes appear at each pole of the 
spindles. The whole interpretation hinges on the correctness of the author’s 
assumption that only two segments are formed from the double chromatic 
band after synapsis. 
After the reorganization following the second division of the nuclei, the 
Sterigmata bud out from the basidia and swell out into spore bodies n 
with the nucleolus at its apex, then migrates through the narrow sterigmata 
into, the spore cavity. This peculiar migration is explained by the fact that 
during the process the nuclei are in the prophase of a division which is com- 
pleted as soon as the chromatin has entered the spore cavity. The mature 
spore is binucleate, corresponding in this respect with other Gasteromycetes 
that have been investigated —H. HASSELBRING. 
Hereditary factors in Primula.—The existence of numerous varieties of 
the Chinese primrose (Primula sinensis) makes this species an enticing one for 
the study of unit characters in inheritance, but the number of different factors 
is so great as to make complete analysis practically impossible. Factors for 
form of foliage, heterostylism, singleness of the flower, color of stems, color of 
flowers, palliators, inhibitors, pattern factors, coupling, and repulsion, are all 
needed in the description of the results. During the past eight years BATE- 
SON and Grecory have been analyzing the characters which distinguish the 
different varieties, and they have jointly and severally reported on various 
phases of their results from time to time since 1903. REGORY? has just 
presented a comprehensive memoir on these experiments, illustrated with 
three excellent double plates, two colored and one photographic. Some of 
the more interesting results may be mentioned. Long style is epistatic to 
short style; palmate type of leaf to the pinnate or “fern” type; crenate mar- 
is to entire margins; single flowers to double; the flower colors may be 
arranged in a series in such manner that each is epistatic to all that follow, 
as follows: dominant white, magenta, red, blue, recessive white; some pale 
* Grecory, R, P., Experiments with Primula sinensis. Jour. Genetics 1:73- 
132. pls. 3. 1911. 
