192 
Notes, 
Warming 1 removes the Calyceraceae from the vicinity of the Com- 
positae, and places them near the Dipsaceae on account of the ovule, which he 
distinguishes as ‘ apotrope i. e. placed on the anterior wall of the ovary 
with the raphe anterior. He argues that if the basal ovule of the Com- 
positae, which he designates 1 epitrope *, were displaced so that it was 
pendant, the raphe would become posterior, instead of anterior as it is in the 
pendant ovules of the Dipsaceae and Calyceraceae. This assumes that the 
displacement is in the median plane of the flower, but the present observa- 
tions of the orientation of lateral, 
i. e. displaced, ovules show that dis- 
placement takes place in the plane 
at right angles to the median plane. 
Therefore, if the basal ovule of the 
Compositae were displaced so that it 
became pendant, the raphe would 
remain anterior and the ovule would 
have the same position as in the 
Calyceraceae and Dipsaceae. This 
displacement in the lateral plane is 
just what might be expected, con- 
sidering the obvious derivation of the 
unilocular ovary of the Compositae 
from a bicarpellary ovary in which 
the carpels were on the antero-pos- 
terior plane. Therefore the Calycera- 
ceae, in accordance with the usually 
accepted opinion, may be allowed to 
remain near the Compositae. 
Van Tieghem 2 also removes the Calyceraceae from the vicinity of 
the Compositae, and places them near the Rubiaceae on account of the ovule, 
but the value of the ovule in the classification of this portion of the 
Sympetalae has been somewhat over-emphasized considering the com- 
parative frequency of these lateral ovules, which form a transition to the 
Calyceraceae and Dipsaceae. 
JAMES SMALL. 
Armstrong College, 
October , 1915. 
1 Warming, E. : Observations snr la valenr systematique de P ovule. Mindeskrift f. Japet, 
Steenst., 1913. 
2 Van Tieghem, P. : L’oeuf des plantes. Ann. sci. nat., Bot., ser. 8, t. xiv, 1901. 
Fig. 3. 
