614 Biologie. — Morphologie, Teratologie, Befruchtung etc. 
den, Untersuchungen mit Individuen verschiedener Herkunft in den 
Sommern 1905—08 bei Svalöf ausgeführt. Für die Isolierung wur¬ 
den engmaschige Gazenetze und Pergamindüten und für die Bestaü- 
bung feine, steif haarige Pinsel benutzt. 
Wenn die Blüten nur isoliert und nicht künstlich bestäubt, oder 
wenn sie mit eigenem Pollen oder mit demjenigen anderen Blüten 
desselben Individuums bestäubt waren, entwickelte sich kein einzi¬ 
ger Samen. Als dagegen isolierte Blüten mit fremden Pollen in 
derselben Weise bestäubt waren, gelangten Samen zur Ausbildung. 
Aus diesen Versuchen geht hervor, dass Trifolium pratense 
durchaus selbststeril ist. 
Versuche, die Verf. mit anderen Futterpflanzen angestellt hat, 
haben bis jetzt ergeben, dass auch Trifolium hybridum L. und Lotus 
corniculatus L. selbststeril sind, während bei Anthyllis vulneraria L. 
Selbstbefruchtung gute Fruchtbildung hervorruft. 
Grevillius (Kempen a. Rh.) 
Beer, R„ On Elaioplasts. (Ann. Bot. XXIII. N°. 89, p. 63—73. 
PI. IV. 1909.) 
Elaioplasts, which hitherto have only been met with in monoco- 
tyledons (and Psilotum ), have now been found to occur in a Dico- 
tyledon — Gaillardia. They have been found in the corolla-hairs, the 
pappus, the connective of the stamens, the style and the Stigma of 
this plant. They are absent from the stem, root, and leaf. These 
elaioplasts are formed by the aggregation of plastids and their dege- 
neration products at one or more spots in the cell. In the corolla- 
hairs of Gaillardia they give rise to the oily, yellow pigment which 
in association with the red cell-sap, gives the mature hairs of the 
flower their characteristic colour. The elaioplast occurring in the 
stamens and in the style and Stigma of Gaillardia, agree in all 
respects with those of the corolla-hairs except that they are coloured 
green with Chlorophyll, and can form starch within their substance. 
The elaioplasts of Gaillardia (and probably of the monocotyledons 
also) differ essentially in their development from the oil bodies of 
the liverworts. 
It is most unlikely that the elaioplasts perform any function of 
direct importance to the life of the plant, although they may in 
some cases (corolla-hairs Gaillardia ) serve a secondary, biological 
purpose. A. Robertson. 
Brown, W. H., The nature of the embryo-sac of Peperomia. 
(Bot. Gaz. XLVI. 445 — 460. pls. 31—33. Dec. 1908.) 
From a study of four species of Peperomia the writer argues 
that the sixteen-nucleate condition of the embryo-sac represents the 
product of four megaspores. The first four nuclei of the sac are con- 
sidered to be megaspore nuclei because the first division of the 
embryo-sac mother cell is heterotypic and reducing, and in P.pellucida 
cell-plates are formed on the spindles of the first two divisions, 
while in P. arifolia and P. Sintensii these plates grow into evanescent 
walls. In the last named species, the fourth division results in the 
Separation of eight nuclei by walls, while the eight free nuclei fuse 
to form an endosperm nucleus. Two of the enclosed nuclei form an 
egg and a synergid while the remaining six degenerate. 
M. A. Chrysler. 
