96 BOTANICAL GAZETTE | AUGUST 
Both Wager (1896) and Davis (1900) assert that it bears one 
functional nucleus, but they figure other nuclei in the neck of 
the tube, and Davis suggests that occasionally more than one 
nucleus from the antheridium may enter the ooplasm. ig. 26 
shows a case where the tube clearly contains one large male 
nucleus in a mass of dense cytoplasm, and another nucleus 
lying in such a position that it must be set free were the tube to 
open. It is also common to find more than two nuclei in the 
oosphere just after the opening of the tube and before fusion. 
In such cases it is evident that there is a supernumerary nucleus, 
but whether it is derived from the antheridium or the oosphere 
is not always plain. Such conditions as those shown in fig. 77 
render it probable that sometimes two or even more female 
nuclei might survive. The supernumerary nuclei would then be 
found near the coenocentrum (fg. 23). Occasionally the one 
supernumerary nucleus lies free in the ooplasm at a considerable 
distance from the coenocentrum, and is probably of antheridial 
origin. It is quite conceivable, and it may occasionally hap- 
pen, that two functional nuclei are derived from each organ, 
and that a multiple fusion of nuclei may occur even in A. 
candida. 
Figs. 24 and 25 represent two stages in the division of the 
fusion nucleus. The strongly thickened fibers and their con- 
torted condition agree well with the view of Driiner (1895) that 
the spindle poles are separated by a push due to an elongation 
of the spindle, not by a pull from a region external to the 
nucleus, nor by cytoplasmic streaming. The division is of quite 
the same type as that exhibited before fusion, an agreement 
that is particularly evident in anaphase, so characteristic in both 
this and other species. 
A fuller study of the species has developed one essential 
point somewhat at variance with previous observations. i 
believe I have shown that there is no time when the central 
region in A. candida is entirely devoid of nuclei, and that very 
early there is an attractive force exhibited by the coenocentrum 
which results in a retention of one nucleus while the others are 
