1903] GAMETOPHYTES AND EMBRYO OF TAXODIUM 13 
perus contains very little starch at time of fertilization, and 
thinks it therefore the more remarkable that the fusion nucleus 
should be surrounded by so much starch. From comparison 
with Taxodium, however, it seems probable that starch is also 
present in the sperm cells of the Cupresseae and has heretofore 
been overlooked. We shall see that a comparison of the pro- 
. cesses of fertilization in the two cases strengthens this view. 
The tip of the pollen tube has not been found to possess a 
distinct pit, such as is described by Goroschankin (’83), Dixon 
(794), and Blackman (’98) in other conifers. The whole tip of 
the tube is furnished with a thinner cell wall than is found above, 
and if any pit occurs it is rendered less conspicuous by the thin- 
ness of the adjoining wall. 
THE OVULATE CONE. 
In October of the year preceding the ripening of the seed, 
the ovulate cones of Taxodium appear as very inconspicuous 
axillary buds on shoots of the same year. They usually occupy 
positions near the tip of the branch, and vary greatly in the 
number formed. It has usually been said that the ovulate cones 
are borne two or three together at the tip of branches which 
have also produced, further down, branches of the staminate 
inflorescence. While this is sometimes the case, and frequently so 
in trees examined in Baltimore, in its more natural habitat the 
ovulate cones are situated on branches of their own, and occur 
in much greater numbers than described. As many as fifteen or 
twenty mature cones have been found closely crowded ona fertile 
branch, and while this is the exception, as many as eight or ten 
are frequently grouped on vigorous trees. The ovulate cones 
replace the dehiscent short branches. The latter do not 
appear in the axils of all the scale leaves during the first year, 
but in only about one-third of them. The next year they are 
found in axils of leaves which were not occupied the previous 
year, but in following years they come from supernumerary 
axillary buds, and in the more slowly growing parts of the tree 
May appear year after year in the axil of the same scale leaf. 
fig. 32 shows a megasporophyll collected October 3, 1899. 
