512 Sax: FERTILIZATION IN FRITILLARIA PUDICA 
The male nuclei finally lose their long curved shape. They 
contract somewhat, becoming shorter and more rounded in con- 
tact with the egg. In some cases the male nucleus seems to 
occupy an indentation in the egg (Fic. 15), while in other cases 
the two sexual nuclei are flattened at the point of contact (Fics. 
16,17). The male nucleus, on losing its vermiform shape, also 
loses the fine irregular network of its chromatin contents, charac- 
teristic of earlier stages. Fic. 14 shows this condition. The 
male nucleus has contracted somewhat and its contents consist 
of large and small granules with some of its earlier net-like struc- 
ture. The egg nucleus is slightly indented. The chromatin 
granules of the male nucleus become coarser with finer threads 
running out from them. Many small pieces of chromatin are | 
also to be seen. A little later in some cases nucleoli appear to be 
present. Fic. 15 shows the male nucleus after it has lost most 
of its earlier structure, in an indentation in the egg nucleus. 
Fic. 16 shows a little later stage than Fic. 15, but with the male 
and female nuclei flattened at the point of contact. In both 
cases, the male nucleus stains a little darker. The egg nucleus 
has very large chromatin granules. In Fic. 16, the male nucleus 
has very small pieces of chromatin along their common boundary. 
The male and egg nuclei remain in contact a long while before 
their common boundary finally disappears and their contents 
mingle. Fic. 17 shows the male and egg nucleus in contact, 
each containing a large mass of chromatin and small nucleoli. 
In Fic. 18 the fusion is almost complete. Most of the contents 
of the male nucleus are in a thread-like structure. Some of the 
contents of the egg nucleus are thread-like, but a large part are 
massed in the center of the nucleus. A large nucleolus is present. 
The thread-like structure appears to run from one nucleus into 
the other. In both Fics. 17 and 18, the male nucleus is smaller 
than the egg nucleus. Fic. 19 shows a stage where the common 
boundary has disappeared, the contents have apparently mingled, 
and those from the male and female nuclei are not to be dis- 
tinguished, but there is still an indication of the outlines of the 
two nuclei. A similar stage is shown in Fic. 20. In this case the 
chromatin contents of the fused nuclei are more irregular. 
In most cases it is not until the male nucleus and the egg 
