CHROMOSOMES OF PERLA a WA 
A glance at the above review may suffice to reveal that there 
are two fundamentally different views regarding the modes of 
synapsis—those of the parasynaptist and of the telosynaptist. 
The opinions of the telosynaptists have been strenuously 
opposed by von Winiwarter, Gregoire, Janssens, and others, 
because earlier authors of this school have more or less entirely 
overlooked a certain stage in the early prophase, which para- 
synaptists claim as supporting their views. The fact that this 
critical stage is observable only with difficulty may well add‘to 
the dignity of the teaching of the parasynaptists, although the 
very same fact may also let one doubt as to the reality of the 
conception. 
There is no doubt that the majority of cytologists to-day 
feel quite justified in accepting the universal occurrence of para- 
synapsis, probably partly due to the development of the chromo- 
some theory of inheritance. It is significant, therefore, that in 
spite of the overwhelming number of the parasynaptists, there 
are a few who still insist upon the truth of telosynapsis. 
Arnold (09), for instance, concisely discussing Planarian 
spermatogenesis, concludes that “‘the spireme is gradually elabo- 
rated out of a reticulum and is in the earliest stage in which it can 
be recognized as spireme, composed of several separate segments,” 
which are in haploid number, and never do the segments in lepto- 
tene nuclei pair up longitudinally. 
One of the best botanical works supporting telosynapsis is 
that of Nothnagel (16). He asserted that in Allium the double 
thread in the premeiotic nucleus is due to the splitting of the 
single thread, by means of essentially the same process as in 
somatic mitosis, and each segment appearing in the haploid 
number represents two diploid chromosomes united end to end. 
Some seem to believe that both para- and telosynapsis may 
take place for different chromosomes in the same cell. Gates 
(11) tries to show that the modes of synapsis may differ according 
to the sizes of the chromosomes. Wilson (’12) seems to admit 
parasynapsis for autosomes, describing at the same time an 
actual telosynapsis for accessory chromosomes. Payne (14), 
finally, describes two different methods of ring formation in the 
