Chloroplasts and Cells

Abstract

IN an interesting account of studies with the variegated variety of the fern Adiantum cuneatum in the March issue of the Journal of Genetics, Miss Irma Andersson shows that the prothallia all sooner or later develop whitish stripes in which the chloroplasts are pale green and only half the size of the chloroplasts in the surrounding green cells. There are no intermediates, nor does any cell contain chloroplasts of both types. The purpose of this note is to direct attention to certain facts which appear to have a bearing on this sharp segregation occurring in gametophyte tissue.