The Brussels Congress of Botanists. 259 
When early stages of the megasporangium of Fritillaria and 
Lilium are examined it is seen to consist of a mass of cells, the 
nucellus ; the cells can be distinguished by their large nuclei and 
dense protoplasmic contents. Any one of the more central cells can 
function as an archesporium and all may he considered potential 
archesporial cells. Although normally only one cell functions as 
the archesporium, yet all the cells adjacent to this one must be 
under very similar conditions, and a case might easily occur where 
more than one might function. There seems no reason to suppose 
that should this occur two complete embryo-sacs would not be 
formed, although this state has not yet been observed. 
A. Eckley Lechmere. 
Botanical Laboratory, University of Bristol. 
April , 1910. 
THE BRUSSELS CONGRESS OF BOTANISTS. 
HE Third International Congress of Botanists was held at 
L Brussels from May 15th to the 22nd in the present year. 
Apart from the work of the sections, the Congress afforded a very 
pleasant and profitable opportunity for the botanists of all nations 
to become personally acquainted. The city of Brussels is a most 
attractive meeting place and occupies a fairly central position, 
especially for the botanists of Northern Europe. There was a good 
attendance of representative men. The General Secretary of the 
Congress was M. de Wildeman. 
The meetings of the sections, apart from the formal opening 
session, which took place at the well-known Botanic Garden in 
the centre of the city, were held in the Exhibition Buildings, close 
to the Bois de Cambres, a considerable distance away, and the 
necessity for going to and fro over so long a distance was felt by 
many members to be inconvenient. 
Section of Taxonomic Nomenclature . 1 
The chief work of this section was to complete the Rules 
passed at Vienna in 1905 so far as concerned special points relating 
to non-Vascular Cryptogams and Paleobotany. It was generally 
felt that the “ Species Plantarum ” was not a satisfactory starting 
point for many of the lower groups about which little or nothing 
was known in 1753. The question of separate starting points was 
therefore considered by the workers concerned with the various 
groups, and the resulting recommendations were brought before 
the meetings of the section. 
It was decided to go back to 1753 in the case of the Myceto- 
zoa, of most of the Algae (including Characeae) and of the Lichens. 
Later starting points were however agreed upon for the Desmids 
(Ralfs, 1848), Oedogoniaceae (Hirn, 1900) and Nostocaceae, 
(Homocysteae, Gomont, 1890, Heterocysteae, Bornet and Flahault, 
1886-88). The rest of the Schizophyceae with the Diatoms and 
and Flagellata were reserved for further consideration. 
For the Fungi it was agreed to start with Fries’ “ Systema 
Mycologicum ” (1821-32), except in the case of the Uredineae, 
Ustilagineae and Gasteromycetes, for which Persoon’s “Synopsis 
Fungorum ” (1801) was chosen. 
1 The Editor is indebted to Dr. A. B. Rendle, Mr. H. N. Dixon 
and Dr. R. Kidston for information on the work of the section. 
