Contribution io the Fertilization and Embryogeny 

 of Abies balsamea. 



Dr. K. Miyake. 



With plates VI— Vm. 



Tlie material for the present study was collected from about 

 a dozen trees growing' wild in the Aicinitiy of Axton in the Adi- 

 rondak Mountains, N. Y., U. S. A. I made a trip to Axton specially for 

 this purpose and staid there from June 23 rd until July 7th, 1901. 

 During- these two weeks the cones were gathered two or three times 

 a day. The ovules were removed from the scales before being put 

 into the fixing fluid, and frequently a portion of the integument 

 was cut away to insure more rapid penetration of the reagent. For 

 the study of later stages the entire endosperm was sometimes taken 

 out from the ovule. 



More than half of the ovules examined were found to be in- 

 fected by insect larvae. In the early stages of infection , it is 

 difflcult to distmguish a diseased ovule from a healthy one, without 

 making sections. I was therefore, obliged to put up many infected 

 ovules together with normal ones, and also to apply the same laborious 

 processes of imbedding and sectioning to the fonner as to the latter. 

 However, not all of the infected ovules were useless for study. In 

 the early stages the larva is usually found in the lower part of the 

 endosperm, and the archegonium remains uninjured and apparently 

 normal. Such material can thus be used for the study of the struc- 

 ture and development of the archegonium. Later the insect moves 

 up towards the archegonia, and after destroying them locates 

 itself in the cavities formerly occupied by the archegonia. The insect 

 then gi^ows larger and soon consumes the whole endosperm. At this 

 time the injured ovule can be recognized by its larger size and 

 darker color. 



For fixing, Flemming's strong Solution was almost exclusively 

 used except in one case when chrom-acetic acid Solution was tried. 

 The material was imbedded in paraffin in the usual way and sections 

 were cut from 6.6 to 12/* in thickness. In most cases Flemming's 

 triple combination was used for staining, but occasionally Heiden- 

 hain's iron-alum haeraatoxylin w^as used. 



The present investigations were undertaken at the Suggestion 

 of Professor George F. Atkinson and have been carried on under 

 his direction in the Botanical Laboratory of Cornell University. I 



