Notes. 
382 
consisting of thin- walled cells rich in oil. At the micropylar end 
is the minute inconspicuous embryo, scarcely the size of an ordinary 
endosperm-cell (Fig. 5 B). It is shaped like a somewhat flattened pear 
and consists of but few cells, the one at the radical or suspensorial 
end being relatively large and hemispherical. Beyond this there is no 
differentiation into definite parts, and the embryo is nowhere more 
than two cells thick. In its minute size and excessive simplicity 
the embryo resembles that of many other parasites and saprophytes, 
as may be seen by the surface view which is here given. 
PERCY GROOM, Oxford. 
THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SEED IN CLAYTONIA. — 
In studying the biology of the flower in Claytonia it was noticed that 
1 2 
3 
Claytonia alsinoides 
Fig. 1. Capsule before dehiscence, from above ( x6). 
,, 2. ,, shortly after dehiscence. 
,, 3. „ after ejection of seeds. 
the ripe seeds were thrown with some violence out of the capsules. 
The mechanism was therefore investigated, and proved to be almost 
identical with that occurring in Montia minor (in the same natural 
order), as described by Urban h The species examined were 
C. alsinoides and C. sibirica, both growing in the Cambridge Botanic 
1 ‘ Ueber d. Schleudereinrichtung bei Montia minor . 1 Jahrbuch des Konigl. Bot. 
Gartens zu Berlin, vol. iv, 1886, p. 256. 
