144 AMPHIMIXIS OR ESSENTIAL MEANING OF [XII. 



of the first ' reducing division' (see Fig. IV. 5). In the second 

 ' reducing division ' they are tv^isted so that the two halves of 

 each idant come to lie upon each other, and between them 

 passes the plane of division which confers upon each daughter 

 nucleus its predetermined half (Fig. IV. 6). If then, these two 

 halves, which are prepared so early, contain similar ids, we 

 have to do with an ' equal division '; but, in my opinion, there 

 is little to be said in favour of this assumption and much for the 

 contrary. 



If we enquire as to the origin of the double idants in the 

 equatorial plate of the first ' reducing division,' we find that 

 deeply staining strands and granules of chromatin separate out 

 from the passive nucleus of the mother-cell (Fig. IV. 2) and 

 arrange themselves in the very remarkable likeness of a series 

 of wreaths^ (Fig. IV. 3), of which there appear to be twelve. 

 The full number may not be visible at the same time, because 

 one or more is as yet incomplete or is already broken up. 

 Each wreath then divides into two similar halves, which by 

 contracting become spheres and give rise to the twenty-four 

 spherical idants in the equatorial plate of the first ' reducing 

 division ' (Fig. IV. 4 and 5). There is, indeed, good cause for 

 regarding a process of so definite a character as by no means 

 devoid of meaning, and we naturally ask for the significance of 

 this wreath-formation. We cannot expect to find the answer 

 by direct observation alone, but when we seek assistance from 

 the suggestive conception of the idioplasm, as built up of ids, a 

 certain meaning is seen to underlie the process. 



During the resting-stage the ids are scattered through the 

 nucleus ; they then collect together again into idants, as I 

 assume, in an order nearly the same as that previously taken ; 

 the idants then grow and double t/iemselves without any separa- 

 tion of the halves from each other (Fig. VI. i). 



These double idants unite together in pairs, forming wreaths 

 (Fig. VI. 2 and 3), and each of the latter divides into two similar 

 halves (Fig.VI. 4), giving rise to two newdouble idants (Fig.VI. 5), 

 which may be different from those of the original pair. For 

 the adjoining Fig. VII shows that according to the position of 



^ The term ' wreath ' or ' rosette ' is sometimes given to the equa- 

 torial plate of Flemming (see Klein ' Atlas of Histology,' p. 442). This 

 is of course entirely different from the wreaths mentioned above. — E.B.P. 



