1903] GAMETOPHYTES AND EMBRYO OF TAXODIUM 131 
the winter. At the time of pollination the single megaspore 
mother-cell may be distinguished. It is filled with starch, as are 
also the tapetal cells around it. Two reducing divisions occur, 
but only three cells are formed, the upper of the two first pro- 
duced not dividing again. The lower of the two potential mega- 
spores resulting from the second division in the lower cell 
develops into the female gametophyte, the two upper cells dis- 
organizing, 
As the spore develops in sprouting, the tapetal cells around 
it grow and divide, and disorganizing the nucellar cells around 
them pass the nourishment to the prothallium within. How 
long this tapetum persists is not certain, but it probably lasts 
until the prothallium is mature. 
The archegonia are arranged as in the Cupresseae. The 
number of the neck cells vary from two to sixteen or more. The 
central cell is very long and contains two conspicuous kinoplas- 
mic areas, one at the upper end near the nucleus and the other 
in the lower end beneath the large central vacuole. When the 
ventral canal nucleus is cut off the upper of these masses takes 
part in the division, while the fragmented lower one fills the base 
of the archegonium with peculiar figures. 
A ventral canal nucleus is cut off just before fertilization, but 
it is not separated from the cytoplasm of the egg and after fer- 
tilization moves back toward the center and divides amitotically. 
It probably assists in nourishing the embryo. 
The spindle of the ventral canal cell division is almost 
entirely of nuclear origin, and the chromosomes are derived 
largely from the nucleolus. The egg nucleus contains a large 
amount of granular material, but a chromatin reticulum is 
always present. This granular material is largely used in the 
formation of the spindle of the fusion nucleus. 
Fertilization occurs about the middle of June, and two or 
More sperm cells may enter an archegonium. Only one, how- 
ever, becomes fused with the egg cytoplasm. As a rule one pol- 
len tube fertilizes two archegonia. 
The sperm cell with its starch, protoplasm, and nucleus 
passes through the cytoplasm of the tip of the egg and reach- 
