692 
Notes. 
FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE OVULES 
OF MYRICACEAE AND ALLIED GROUPS. — In the last number of this Journal 
I described the structure and development of the ovule of Myrica Gale, drawing 
special attention to two characters in the structure of the ovule — namely, the free 
character of the nucellus and the vascular supply to the integument. These were 
suggested to be possibly ancestral characters retained, and a comparison was made 
with similar characters in fossil seeds of the Trigonocarpus type. 
Since then I have had opportunity of examining ovules of another species of 
Myrica — Myrica Faya, and also find the two characters well developed there. An 
almost identical case is found in the ovules of the allied order Juglandaceae. The 
ovule is orthotropous as in the Myricaceae, the nucellus stands freely within the 
single integument, and there is a well-developed integumentary vascular system, 
which becomes quite obvious to the naked eye in the ripe seed. 
Extending this investigation to ovules of the Amentiferae, I find that these 
characters prevail in many of the genera. The ovules of Fagus sylvatica possess a free 
nucellus and a fairly well-developed integumentary vascular system. The same 
characters are found in Carpinus Be/ulus. The ovules of Quercus Robur , Corylus 
Avellana , Castanea vesca and Alnus glut inos a also possess an integumentary vascular 
system. This is figured and described by Lubbock 1 for Quercus and Corylus , but 
at that time there could be no suggestion of the possible phylogenetic value of the 
character. I cannot state with certainty how far the nucellus is free from the 
integument in these three genera, until more careful observations have been made on 
their ovules in various stages of growth. The occurrence of these 1 ancestral ' 
characters, together with the chalazogamy and other features observed by Miss Benson 2 
in these same genera and regarded by her as primitive, seems to emphasize the 
primitive nature of this group. The exact value of the characters in determining the 
position of the Amentiferae in the whole group of Angiosperms, can scarcely be 
estimated until more comparative work on the ovules of allied groups is completed. 
M. KERSHAW. 
Manchester University. 
1 Lubbock, Seedlings, vol. i, p. 71, 1892. 
2 Benson, Contributions to the Embryology of the Amentiferae. Trans. Linnean Soc., London, 
vol. iii, part io, 1894. 
