380 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JUNE 
eight-celled embryo sac appears to be of the same nature as the 
second. Fig. 71 shows the position of these spindles. The 
uppermost nucleus gives rise to the two synergids, the one below 
this to the egg and upper polar nucleus. A typical arrangement 
of these divisions is shown in fig. 72. The old spindle has sur- 
vived in this instance, and has separated into two limbs below. 
As is usual in many of the Liliaceae, the egg apparatus is not 
very definitely organized. A nearly mature sac is represented 
by fig. 73. In this case, however, the nuclei are larger than 
usual. 
Some interesting features were observed in the second divis- 
ion. Insome cases the cytoplasmic radiations around the nucleus. 
at the beginning of the formation of the spirem did not extend 
to the incept of the spindle, but ended in a rather dense cyto- 
plasmic zone surrounding this (fig. 62). This of course may 
not be of any special significance, but merely an individual 
peculiarity. The fate of the central spindle of the first division,. 
however, deserves special mention. This,.as stated, persists 
usually until the following division is well under way. Then it 
often appears to mass up into two very dense irregular bodies 
which stain very deeply (figs. 65, 66, 68). Whether these 
masses represent a special substance distinct from the general 
cytoplasm and that part of the cytoplasm which alone is used in 
the formation of spindle threads and radiations it would be diffi- 
cult, of course, to tell at present. There is little question as to 
the origin of the masses, and if there is a special substance for 
the formation of spindle threads and radiations, distinct from 
the cytoplasm proper, these masses must represent such a sub- 
stance. 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EMBRYO. 
No stages of fertilization were discovered, nor any in which 
the polar nuclei were conjugating. When the pollen tube 
enters the micropyle it increases enormously in size and is 
exceedingly distinct. It is very different in appearance from 
the tubes in Alisma and Sagittaria. The definitive nucleus 
begins to divide about the time of the union of the male 


