1910] CURRENT LITERATURE 155 
develops directly into the embryo sac, as in Lilium, the four megaspores, not 
separated by walls, all taking part in the formation of the sac. The two male 
cells retain their form even after passing to the end of the pollen tube. Double 
fertilization was observed. The diploid and haploid chromosome numbers are 
38 and 18. The first four cells of the endosperm are long and tubelike, extending 
from the egg to the’ antipodals. 
Various. genera of the Saxifragaceae, Araliaceae, Caprifoliaceae, and Ranun- 
culaceae, with which various systematists have supposed Adoxa to be related, 
were studied for comparison, and one of these genera (Sambucus) shows so many 
resemblances that the similarity could hardly be accidental. For instance, both 
have ovules with a single integument and a single archesporial cell which develops 
into the embryo sac according to the Lilium type; the wall of the anther, the 
cytological details of the development of the pollen (including the number of 
chromosomes), and the structure of the mature pollen grain are so identical that 
the two forms can hardly be distinguished in these respects; the long persistence 
of the organized male cells is the same in both, and resemblances in the grosser 
morphology were already well known. The conclusion is reached, and it seems 
to be based upon an unusually wide range of evidence, that there is no need 
for the family Adoxaceae, and that Adoxa should be placed in the Caprifoliaceae 
in the tribe Sambuceae.—CHARLES J. CHAMBERLAIN. 
Geotropism.—Under a very pretentious title, Girtay® discusses and 
describes a number of experiments on some of the “‘fundamental questions of 
” 
ecm 
Ps ig E., Einige Betrachtungen und Versuche tber Grundfragen beim 
Pismus der Wurzel. Zeitschr. Botanik 2:305-331- 1910. 
