Chapter X —157— Drosera 



lowed by sectioning and staining came into use first by Gardiner, 

 followed later by Lily Huie, Rosenberg and Konopka. Homes' 

 work we have already mentioned as especially bearing on aggregation. 

 Gardiner believed that the mucilage of the glands is secreted as a 

 " formed matter" within vacuoles which grow after stimulation, the 

 protoplasm being reduced in amount to be later restored by new 

 growth from the vicinity of the nucleus. He observed the presence of 

 the crystalloid " rhabdoids". It is not unfair to say that his work was 

 rather meagre in amount, and he did not use staining reactions. Huie 

 on the other hand did a sustained piece of work. She traced rhythmic 

 changes in cytoplasm, nucleus and nucleolus, attempting to interpret 

 these as chemical and morphological reactions connected with and 

 following stimulation by food materials of various kinds, which, ac- 

 cording to their nature, were followed by quantitatively various re- 

 actions, though quahtatively similar. We may leave out of account 

 the reactions to non-organic substances which produced in any event 

 only very fleeting cytological changes. Following feeding there is a 

 reduction in the volume of the basophile cytoplasm until it becomes 

 scanty in amount and eosinophile in character confirming Gardiner's 

 similar observation. Following this but preceding the restoration of the 

 cytoplasm there is an increase in the volume of the basophile chromo- 

 somes accompanied by a reduced amount of nucleolar chromatin. The 

 beginning of restoration of the cytoplasm is to be seen in an accumula- 

 tion of neutrophile dense cytoplasm surrounding the nucleus correspond- 

 ing chemically (as indicated by color reaction) and morphologically 

 (size of granules) to the intranuclear plasm. At completion of 

 cytoplasmic restoration the nuclear chromatin is reduced in amount, 

 and the nucleolar chromatin increases. What is left of the chromoso- 

 mal bodies (chromatin) is finally aggregated into definite V-shaped 

 bodies of a constant number (eight) characteristic of the plant, which 

 " proves" that this is a mark of nuclear activity and not merely a 

 feature of mitosis. Huie's second paper (1899) adds nothing to the 

 above account in general, but she concludes that the nucleus is the 

 seat of metaboHc activity, and that the usefulness of a food can be 

 judged by the condition of the '' nuclear organs." 



Rosenberg (1899) supported and extended Huie's studies. He 

 saw similar changes, but in lesser degree, in the endodermis, tracheids 

 and stalk cells. He diverged, however, from her interpretation of the 

 masses of chromatin as chromosomal, for he found them in no constant 

 number, nor did he find splitting as in prophase, but on the contrary 

 much difference in form and size. He observed, however, certain 

 bodies lying on or near the nuclear membrane, called generally "pseu- 

 donucleoli", which he termed prochromosomes. These occur in a con- 

 stant number, and are the chromosomes. 



Konopka and Ziegenspeck (1929) studied D. rotimdifolia, D. 

 binata and D. anglica. After the glands have been fed 24 hours with 

 various proteins, including pollen, droplets appear in the cytoplasm 

 near the nucleus (intermediate food products) at first always in the 

 inner gland cells layer, later in the outer, and also in endodermis 

 (parenchyme bell) tracheids, stalk cells and leaf blade cells. They in- 

 crease in number and size, and at length are overtaken by a sort of 



