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So a cere EP mR ae no) poate Bae oe 
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* 
1910] CURRENT LITERATURE 79 
on other characters. It is an interesting fact that the ancient Prepinus shows 
these ‘‘bars,’’ which fact helps to establish their ancient character. The total 
result is to emphasize strongly the distinctness of the araucarians fronr all the 
‘other Coniferales.—J. M. C. 
Embryo sacs of some Onagraceae.—An investigation?’ of Epilobium angusti- 
jolium, E. Dodonaei, Oenothera biennis, and Circaea lutetiana shows an interest- 
ing variation from the conventional development of the embryo sac. The usual 
tetrad of four megaspores is formed and the lowest one enlarges and begins to 
develop in the well-known way, but as soon as the four-nucleate stage is reached, 
two synergids and an egg are formed at the micropylar end of the sac, leaving 
one free nucleus in the middle or toward the antipodal end. This sac looks like 
that of Cypripedium, as described by Miss Pace,?® but is formed from one mega- 
spore, while that of Cypripedium is formed from two. At fertilization, one male 
nucleus fuses with the nucleus of the egg and the other with the single polar 
nucleus, so that there is no triple fusion as in Cypripedium, where one of the syner- 
gids takes part. The embryo and endosperm develop in the usual way.—CHARLES 
J. CHAMBERLAIN, 
The original Oenothera Lamarckiana.—Gatrs”? has discovered a manu- 
script in the Sturtevant collection of the library of the Missouri Botanical Garden 
“which proves that this plant was originally a species growing wild in Virginia, and ~ 
that it was the first Oenothera introduced into European gardens, about 1614.” 
In view of the fact that the origin of this important species has been in doubt, and 
that it has been claimed to have originated in cultivation, this discovery is note- 
worthy. The record referred to is in the form of a long marginal note in a copy 
of BauHIn’s Pinax, by JoANNIS SNIPPENDALE, and is an accurate description of 
the plant. “The record is as complete and accurate as could desired, to 
prove to one familiar with the characters of these forms the identity of the plants in 
question.” The Bc was described under BAUHIN’s name, Lysimachia lutea 
corniculata, —J.M 
Color inheritance in Lychnis.—SHuLL3° has discovered that the purple 
color in L. dioica is a compound character, produced by the interactign of three 
distinct and independent genes. The two types of purple color present in different 
individuals are a reddish purple, changed to blue by alkalies, and a bluish purple, 
changed to red by weak acids. The bluish or alkaline color is hypostatic to the 
reddish or acid color, which is the reverse of the condition found in all other 
27 MODILEWSKI, J., Zur — von einigen Onagraceen. Ber. Deutsch. 
Bot. Gesell. 27:287-292. pl. 13. 1909. 
*® Bot. Gazette 44:353-374. pls. 24-27. 1907. : 
79 GatEs, R. R., ce earliest description of Oenothera Lamarchiana. Science 
N.S. 31: 7425, 426. 19 
8° SHULL, bas H, Color inheritance in Lychnis dioica L. Amer. Nat. 44:33- 
QI. Igto. 
