Polyembryony in Erythronium americanum* 
BY 
EDWARD C. JEFFREY, B.A., 
Lecturer in Biology , University of Toronto . 
With Plate XIX. 
D URING the Spring of 1894 I collected a large amount 
of material of the ovules and seeds of Erythronium 
americanum in various stages of development with the in- 
tention of studying the process of fertilization and development 
of the embryo. When some of the seeds, which had reached 
their full size, but had not yet become filled with the 
characteristic horny endosperm of the Liliaceae, were cut 
into series by means of the turpentine-paraffine method, they 
were seen to present the phenomenon of polyembryony. 
A detailed examination of serial sections of the embryos 
in all stages of development resulted in the conclusion that 
the polyembryony here differed from any which has yet been 
described. Publication has been delayed till this year in the 
hope of adding other examples of polyembryony in native 
Canadian Liliaceae, a hope which has not however been 
realized. 
It is hardly necessary to refer to the well-known work 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. IX. No. XXXVI. December, 1895.] 
P p 
