LEVINE: SOMATIC AND REDUCTION DIVISIONS IN DROSERA 1 29 



when the nuclear membrane disappears. The fate of these bodies 

 he was unable to determine. 



Beer ('12) reported that he found in the cytoplasm of Crepis 

 taraxacifolia and C. virens a number of deeply stained granules 

 which he refers to as chromatic droplets. In Matricaria Chamo- 

 milla similar bodies appear a short time after the heterotelophase. 

 Beer believes these bodies are derived from portions of the nucle- 

 olus which have passed through the nuclear membrane. Similar 

 phenomena have been described by Farmer and Digby ('10) for 

 Polypodium vulgare. Many have claimed that chromatin may be 

 extruded and appear as deeply staining bodies in the cytoplasm. 

 Some claim for these bodies very important functions in the activi- 

 ties of the cell, others maintain that they are mere artifacts. 

 Digby ('09, '10, '12, '14) in the study of spermatogenesis of 

 Galtonia candicans, Crepis taraxacifolia, and Primula kewensis found 

 that during synapsis part of the nuclear network or nucleolar 

 substance passes through the nuclear membrane and forms a 

 rounded or finger-like projection on the surface of the nucleus 

 and may finally pass into the cytoplasm of the adjacent cell. 

 These extruded masses become separated from the parent nucleus 

 and become surrounded by a clear hyaline area and then take on 

 the outward appearance of a nucleus; but later they disappear. 

 Similar observations were made by Rosenberg ('09) for Drosera 

 longifolia and Crepis virens. He claims that these extrusion 

 substances are nothing more than the results of poor fixation. 

 Koernicke ('01) claimed that these bodies indicate that the 

 anther is in an abnorm.al condition at the time of fixation. Gates 

 ('11) in his study of Oenothera gigas and 0. biennis described the 

 escape of chromatin from the nucleus of the pollen mother-cell 

 into the adjacent cells. His figures correspond with those of 

 Miss Digby. Carruthers ('11) claimed to find similar extrusion 

 substances from the nuclei in the young asci of Helvella crispa. 

 West and Lechmere ('15) described what they called budding of 

 the nuclei in the pollen mother-cells of Lilium candidum. They 

 claim that the nucleolus takes no part in the formation of these 

 nuclear protuberances and that these bodies are normal and may 

 represent the discharge of waste products of the cell. 



In studying the chromosome number and reduction divisions 

 with a view to determining whether wild hybrids exist also in 



