No. -342] 



NOTES AND LITERATURE 



111 



Fraser and Snell, in their paper on ' ' The Vegetative Divisions 

 in Vicia faba," 1 present important evidence on this point. They 

 show very clearly that the division begins in the teleophase of the 

 previous division. This beginning of chromosome division in 

 teleophase had earlier been noticed by Gregoire, and by Stromp, 

 as pointed out by Fraser and Snell, but these earlier investiga- 

 tors had not perceived the meaning of this phenomenon. Fraser 

 and Snell were able to follow the life history of the chromosomes 

 through their complete history from one teleophase to the next 

 (in root tips and in other somatic parts, as well as in the game- 

 tophyte stages), and they show clearly that the double nature 

 of the spireme is due to splitting which begins as the daughter 

 chromosomes congregate at the poles in the teleophase of the 

 previous nuclear division. 



That this double spireme is not due to the approximation of 

 two elements, one representing maternal and the other paternal 

 chromatin, is further shown by the fact that in the pollen cell, 

 where the chromosome number is haploid, and hence where there 

 can be no question of union of elements from the two parents, 

 exactly the same phenomena occur. 



Another very interesting fact shown by these investigations 

 (of Fraser and Snell) is that some of the elements which be- 

 have as single chromosomes, so far as their distribution on the 

 spindle and to the poles is concerned, are made up of segments 

 united end to end, as if two or more small chromosomes were 

 united more or less closely into a larger one. The authors point 

 out the possible significance of this fact for Mendelian coupling, 

 and suggest that it may also be of significance in connection with 

 the fact that in some species more Mendelian factors have been 

 observed than there appear to be chromosomes. 



East and Hayes have recently published the results of ex- 

 tended investigations on inheritance in maize. 2 After discuss- 

 ing the taxonomy of the group and pointing out the adaptability 

 of maize to genetic investigations (or the lack <»t such adapta- 

 bility) , the authors give an excellent resume of former investiga- 

 tions with this interesting group of plants. 



A brief account of their results follows. Amongst endosperm 

 characters they found that starchiness (S) is dominant to its 



57, Conn. Exp. Sta.— "Inner- 



