s 
252 The Botanical Gazette. 
The endosperm. 
As stated in the foregoing, several free nuclei appear inthe 
cavity of the embryo-sac when the first wall is formed in the 
embryo. Very soon, however, cell formation takes place, 
and the cavity of the embryo-sac is entirely filled with en- 
dosperm (fig. 18). In some cases the embryo was further de- 
veloped than others before cell formation took place in the — 
endosperm. The process of cell building here is that of the — 
Capsellatype.* This is not a favorable object for the study of — 
the details in the process of cell-formation. I was notableto — 
make out the ‘‘Verbindungsfiiden” of Strasburger.* Fig. 27 
shows two endosperm cells that occupied the whole width of 
the embryo-sac in which was the embryo, fig. 16. Figs. 27 
and 16 were taken from consecutive sections. Around each 
nucleus (fig. 27) whose membrane is somewhat contracted, 
an accumulation of protoplasm from which radiate delicate 
protoplasmic threads. 
The endosperm cells are relatively large and not very rich 
in protoplasm. The layer of cells forming the wall of the 
embryo-sac, which is the modified adjacent part of the integ- 
ument of the ovule, is rich in protoplasm, nuclei and ie 
staining densely with cochineal stain. The neighboring ce 
of the integument soon begin to disorganize (fig. 18). _ 
Very noticeable is the fact that here the antipodal ae 
not absorbed during the formation of the endosperm, but ‘ 
sist throughout. They were in the perfectly normal i ie 
tion even when the embryo had reached the size figure 
fig. 26, and the endosperm had been somewhat absorbee ba 
end of the embryo-sac occupied by them remains narrow, : 
widens abruptly above them (fig. 18). : 
Here the behavice of the etoeae cells seems very pecul- 
iar. Just what they represent in the angiosperm 
is still a mystery, and it seems to me that a t wait, at 
facts are insufficient to justify speculation. We Oe ie 
least, until the development of the embryo-sac 18 
the lowest forms of the angiosperms. 
University of Indiana, Bloomington. : 
Explanation oF Prates XXVII-XXIX. — «all the ‘ 
Figs, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 20, %560 diam. Figs. 13, 18, etter 8 endospe™ a 
X 405 diam.—Fig. 1. Embryo-sac just before the formal®! = 7 i 
ec 
Zellbildung und Zelltheilung, dritte Auflage, 1889, P. ee 71. : 
“Strasburger: Ueber Befruchtung und Zelltheilung, 1878, P- 
be et ed 
