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1903} GAMETOPHYTES AND EMBRYO OF TAXODIUM 125 
A. F. W. Schimper demonstrates the presence of plastids in 
the egg cells of plants. Taking the occurrence of starch as an 
indication of the presence of leucoplasts, we find that most of 
the plastids of the proembryo of Taxodium are furnished by 
the male cell. Occasionally a few scattered starch grains may 
be seen in the archegonium before fertilization, but as a rule the 
egg protoplasm is entirely free from them at maturity. Chro- 
matophores or leucoplasts might of course be present in the egg 
without the occurrence of starch, and as such bodies are rather 
difficult to demonstrate without special methods, their presence 
cannot be denied. Blackman’s (’98) observation of leucoplasts 
in the male cell of Pinus has already been referred to. 
THE EMBRYO. 
fig. 120 shows an early stage in the formation of the spindle 
of the first division. The reticulum has become less coarse, the 
larger granules seeming to become transformed into smaller ones 
which characterize the fibers of the spindle at this stage. The 
outlines of the fusion nucleus are still guite distinct, and its fibers 
pass into those of the spindle imperceptibly. The chromatin has 
become arranged on the more homogeneous fibers in the center, 
and form ill-defined, much-elongated bodies which are not yet 
_ §rouped into a definite plate. It will be seen that the spindle is 
multipolar at its origin. Stages of older spindles were not found. 
The plastin nucleolus derived from the egg nucleus does not 
disappear during the spindle formation or during division of the 
nucleus, It is generally inclosed in one of the daughter nuclei, 
but is sometimes left free inthe surrounding cytoplasm. The 
two daughter nuclei of the first division are first separated a con- 
siderable distance (fig. r2r), but later approach nearer and are 
surrounded by the same starch sheath (fig. 117). Their struc- 
ture is very similar to that of the egg nucleus before fertilization, 
a plastin nucleus, a chromatin reticulum, and a large amount of 
finely granular linin material being present. As the fusion 
nucleus approaches the base of the archegonium, it may rotate 
so that the part derived from the sperm nucleus lies nearest the 
base of the archegonium (fig. 106). The large vacuole of the 
