The type and only known species of the genus Liagorophila (Nemalionales, Acrochaetiaceae) is L. endophytica which was first described by Yamada (1944) from the specimens collected in Taiwan, China, where it grew endophytically in the thalli of Liagora orientalis. The material based in this study was collected at Sha-lao, Qiong-hai Prefecture, Hainan Island. The thallus of this endophytic alga consists of irregularly branched filaments, the cells of which are usually somewhat swollen in the middle. Each cell possesses a stellate chromatophore. Our material is dioecious, female and male organs may occur occasionally on the same individual. The spermatangia arise as clavate protrusions and usually occur in groups of two or three. They are sessile or pedicellate. The carpogonium is flask shaped, situated singly at the lateral side or terminal end of a vegetative cell. The fertilized carpogonium enlarges by a process of protruding, and gives off two or more gonimoblast initials. The first division is longitudinal. The initials grow and divide into a spherical mass of cells many of which become carposporangia ultimately. Monosporangia are ovoid in shape, sessile or stalked, unilaterally sedated. The family Acrochaetiaceae is an extremely difficult group which has not yet received sufficient study. From all currently accepted genera (see Papenfuss 1945, 1947; Kylin 1956), however, Liagorophila can be distinguished by its unique manner of the first division of fertilized carpogonium. A search of literature has been made for comparing L. endophytica with somewhat 90 other endophytic and endozoic species of the same family; it is revealed that L. endophytica approaches very near to Kylinia liagorae (Boer- gesen) Papenfuss and may be identical with this species.

The present paper deals with the in vitro culture of young sunflower embryos (0.15–1.0 mm). The modified White's medium was used. The coconut milk (20%), casein hydrolysate and glutamine, used singly or in combination, were tested for their effect on the growth of the young embryos. The experimental results are summarized as follows: 1. The young embryos (less than 0.3 mm) did not grow on the modified White's medium without coconut milk. 2. When cultured on the medium supplemented with 20% coconut milk (autoclaved) alone, 1 “proembryo” (5%) became proliferated. If casein hydrolysate (500 ppm) was added with coconut milk, the viability of the "proembryos" increased to 35%. In another series of experiments the viability of the young differentiating embryos (0.2–0.3 mm) amounted to 27.2% when the coconut milk alone was supplemented, while it increased up to 44.1% when the casein hydrolysate was added at the same time. 3. The viability of the young embryos (0.2–1.0 mm) increased to over 90%, if the glutamine (500 ppm) was supplemented in addition to the coconut milk and casein hydrolysate. The percentage of the embryos with normal growth increases with the age of the embryos at isolation. 4. Many young embryos (generally less than 0.7 mm) proliferated on the cultured medium in an abnormal fashion. At first they proliferate and transform into a mass of callus, then meristematic areas appear on the surface of the callus, and finally the adventive buds are formed from the meristematic areas. Cleavage polycotyledony often appears in the cultured embryos.

Kingdonia uniflora Balfour f. et W. W. Smith is an endemic plant in China. From known records, its distribution is more or less continuous through north-western Yunnan, western Szechwan, southern Kansu and western Shensi. The plant occurs at an elevation of about 3000 meters in the humus of the virgin forest in mountainous areas where the humidity is relatively high and the temperature is low. It grows in the shade of forest and on acidic soil. Kingdonia is an herbaceous perennial with a slender, branching rhizome. The annual shoot bears 2–3 cataphylls, 6–12 scales, 1 foliage leaf, a solitary flower with a long pedicel, a terminal and several lateral buds, and 2–12 internodal roots. Some lack the floral organ. Occasionally a shoot develops 2–3 normal foliage leaves. The more or less round shaped foliage leaf is divided into 5 lobes and exhibits the typical open dichotomous venation. It has a long petiole and a sheath-like leaf base. The solitary flower carries 4–7 tepals, 8–13 staminodes, 3–8 normal stamens, and 4–9 apocarps, all spirally arranged on the bulging receptacle. The fruits are aggregated ackenes with one seed in each single fruit. The open dichotomously-veined foliage leaves as well as other primitive characteristics of Kingdonia uniflora have attracted interest of the morphologists and taxonomists in China and abroad. The morphological and ontogenetic studies of various organs of this plant are in progress. The present paper is introductory in nature.

The condition of DNA of sexual cells during development and the process of fertilization in Gossypium hirsutum L., Helianthus annuns L. and Dolichos lablab L., was studied by the Feulgen reaction method. Feulgen negative and weakly reacting nuclei of the female elements of mature embryo sac were studied further with acridine orange induced fluorescence method in order to detect the existence of DNA. The following results are obtained. I. The young egg cells and young polar nuclei or secondary nucleus of these investigated plants give a strong positive Feulgen reaction, when they were newly formed. With the maturation of the embryo sac the Feulgen reaction of these female elements gradually weakened. At the time just before fertilization, the Feulgen reaction of mature egg cell either remained weakly positive (In Gossypium and Helianthus) or became negative (in Dolichos), but the polar nuclei or secondary nucleus always showed negative to this test in all cases. 2. The sperms of above plants always showed a strong positive Feulgen reaction during the whole process of fertilization. As the female elements undergoing fusion and having completed their fusion, they reacted positively to Feulgen again. When the zygotes and primary endosperm nuclei were ready for first division, Feulgen reaction intensified. 3. All these Feulgen negative and weakly reacting nuclei prior to fertilization showed to contain DNA by means of induced fluorescence. 4. The phenomenon of Feulgen negativity and dynamics of DNA of female elements are discussed.

Changes in respiratory rate, dry weight, available sugar content, activities of some respiratory enzymes and dehydrogenase activity in seeds of the Lombardy poplar (Populus nigra var. italica Dur.) were followed during storage with the view of elucidating factor(s) controlling seed viability. The following results were obtained. In general, the activities of all enzymes measured as well as the respiratory rate and sugar contents declined with the loss of viability of the seeds during storage. Specifically: (a) While the dry weight and available sugars decreased with the length of storage time, the quantities lost (5%–8%) was insignificant compared to the large amount (ca. 94%) of material still stored in the seeds at complete loss of viability. (b) Although the respiratory rate as well as the activities of amylase, peroxidase, catalase, cytochrome oxidase, ascorbic acid oxidase and polyphenol oxidase in the poplar seeds declined with time of storage, no close correlation could be seen between the course of decline in these activities and the fall in percentage of germination in the seeds. In fact, these activities persisted even long after the seeds had already lost their germination power. Of all the items studied in these experiments, only the course of decline in dehydrogenase activity (as measured by triphenyltetrazolium chloride reduction) exhibited a parallel relation with viability in the seeds (measured in terms of germination percentage). Dehydrogenase is entirely lost at the time of complete loss of germination power in these poplar seeds. When seeds had almost completely lost their viability, the addition of 2 mg/ml DPN or 0.1 mg/ml TPN significantly restored their dehydrogenase activity to that possessed by almost completely viable seeds (80%) germination. It is concluded from these experiments that the viability in these poplar seeds is apparently dependent on the state of the two pyridine nucleotides DPN and TPN in the seeds. The inactivation of these pyridine nucleotides during storage may be an important factor controlling the loss of poplar seed viability.

The accumulation and mobilization of starch during the differentiation of the shoot apex and the morphogenesis of fructiferous organs of the wheat have been investigated with the PAS reaction method. The results obtained in this study are briefly summarized as follows: 1. Before the elongation of the shoot apex, the starch is mainly accumulated in the cells of tillering nodes; in the shoot apex, only small quantities of starch have been observed in a few cells of the central region of corpus. 2. The starch deposit increases more and more with the differentiation of the shoot apex and the development of the young spike. Unequal distributions of the starch deposit occur, soon after the elongation of the shoot apex, in different parts of the young spike, namely, the starch content in the middle part is more than that in the upper part or in the basal part. This phenomenon becomes more prominent with the further development of the young spike. The distribution of the starch deposit in different parts of the young spike is in close correlation with the development of the spikelets, as it is well known that the spikelets in the middle part of the spike generally develop better than those in the upper and basal parts. 3. The starch content varies also in different florets of a spikelet, according to their location. For instance, the starch content of the florets in the basal part of the spikelet is more than that of the florets in the upper part. This is also correlated with the developmental conditions of the florets, the basal ones of which gain further development and the upper ones usually degenerate. 4. During the course of organogenesis of the shoot apex, the starch deposit region always closely follows the meristematic region, and the mobilization of the accumulated starch seems to be always directed to the newly formed and rapidly growing organs. 5. The basal spikelets of a spike or the upper florets of a spikelet in which only few starch grains are present, usually degenerate under unfavourable conditions (as drought). Experimental results of this study showed that if optimum irrigation was applied before degeneration occurs, the starch content of these spikelets and florets increased prominently, thereby further development of the above mentioned organs was ensured and the rate of fructification increased. 6. The author believes that the development of the spikelets and the florets of wheat essentially depends on the sufficient quantity of carbohydrates accumulated in these organs.

This work was carried out in the period from 1959 to 1963. Most of the results reported were obtained with Lilium davidii var. willmottiae (Wilson) Roffill. A detailed investigation was made on the appearances of the stages of chromatin extrusion in pollen mother cells, on the relation between bud length, stage of meiosis and chromatin extrusion, and on the effects of mechanical injury and fixing fluids on chromatin extrusions. Results were summarized as follows: 1. Chromatin extrusion or the transfer of nuclear substance from one cell to an adjacent cell is clearly and most frequently observed at the stage of synizesis. The extruding bodies can be regarded as a process of continuous movement in accordance with the stages of nuclear divisions. 2. In Lilium davidii var. Willmottiae (Wilson) Roffill., the development of the anthers within a bud is not exactly synchronous as in Lilium longiflorum, so that there is not always a close relation between bud length, stage of meiosis and chromatin extrusion. As the extrusion phenomena of the nuclear substance depend on the developmental gradient in different anthers within a bud, therefore, the percentage of chromatin extrusion is not always the same in different anthers. By the analysis of variance it is shown that the difference between the buds is highly significant, but not within a bud (see Table 4, 5, 6). 3. By counting the number of cells (each locule of an anther contains about 1000–2000 cells) of Feulgen stained sections of cut and uncut anthers of an entire bud, there is indication that mechanical injury may produce an increase in the extrusion frequency (Table 2, 9). But it is not the chief cause in producing the extrusion of nuclear material. 4. Extruding bodies are present after fixation with formaldehyde, Newcomer's, Carnoy's, Navaschin's, or Flemming's fluid, but there is no significant effect on the extrusion in intact anthers (table 11). Due to the shrinkage in the final preparation of material in these fixatives, it may be a cause in decreasing the decrease in the frequency of extrusion. Morever, there is indication that no relation between the fixing fluids and the direction of extrusion exists. We, therefore, consider that this extrusion phenomenon is not to be attributed to the artifact produced in the fixation. 5. From above evidences we may conclude that the chief cause in producing the extrusion is due to the change in the physiological state of the pollen mother cells.