AND ENDOSPERM IN SOME SEEDLESS PERSIMMONS 381 
of the egg apparatus are shown but the third cell is present in the 
succeeding section of the series. Traces of the polar nuclei are 
present, one of which lies in the neighboring section but the other 
one is apparently disorganizing. No later stage in the fusion of 
the polar nuclei was observed than that shown in FIG. 4, where 
they are merely very closely associated. FIG. 5, 6, and 7 repre- 
sent a condition which seems difficult of explanation and yet is 
consistent with facts brought out in FIG. 8-11. By following 
through the successive sections of this ovule (FIG. 5-7) three nuclei 
were found in the region usually occupied by the egg apparatus. 
Fic. 5 shows one nucleus lying in a large cell not unlike an egg 
cell. F1G. 6, which is the succeeding section, contains a nucleus in 
a denser cytoplasmic mass nearer the periphery of the embryo sac, 
and the next section shows the third nucleus in a still denser mass 
at nearly the opposite side of the sac. This latter mass appears 
to be of a mucilaginous nature, only a portion of it differentiating 
like the ordinary cytoplasm of the egg apparatus. Fic. 6 and 7 
do not appear to represent either egg cell or synergids but resemble 
more nearly disorganizing nucellar tissue. (Compare FIG. I and 
4.) However, FIG. 5-7 may merely represent a breaking down egg 
apparatus consequent to the failure of fertilization. Disorganiz- 
ing nuclei of the nucellar tissue lie in the peripheral cytoplasm of 
the embryo sac. 
I am convinced that a complete embryo sac is not always 
organized, and that even in the absence of fertilization, whether 
“completely organized or not, development in the sac does not 
always cease at this point. Fic. 8 and 9, drawn from the micropy- 
lar end of the embryo sac, seem to be a slightly more advanced 
stage. They represent neighboring sections of the same ovule 
but two distinct groups of cells. The cells of FIG. 8 more nearly 
resemble those of the egg apparatus than do those of FIG. 9. A 
similar condition is shown in another ovule (FIG. 10). Neither 
evidence of fertilization nor development of the egg were discovered 
at this or later stages, but nuclei appear around the periphery 
and somewhat more numerous in the micropylar region of the 
embryo sac. The entire history of these nuclei has not been traced 
but their appearance would suggest that they may have originated 
from the polar nuclei. That they represent an early stage of 
