A Smear Technic for Some Species of leguminosae

Carnoy's No. 2 fluid (absolute alcohol-glacial acetic acid-chloroform) modified by saturation with mercuric chloride was found to be an effective killing and fixing agent for microsporocytes of Trifolium pratense, T. incarnatum, T. repens, T. hybridum, and Glycine max. Microsporocytes so fixed were softened in a 0.1N HCl solution at 45°C. for approximately 10 minutes, then smeared by die standard aceto-carmine technic. The modifications enabled chromosome counts to be made successfully in microsporocyte smears, whereas satisfactory smears could not be made when standard technics of killing and fixing were used.