432 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [DECEMBER 
all connect the formation of cilia with definite organs which are 
variously designated Hocker, Kérnchen, Kérperchen, Nebenkern, 
attraction sphere, directive sphere, centrosome, centrosome-like body, 
and blepharoplast. It may safely be assumed that the various writers 
would now agree that the body described under so many names is the 
same morphological structure in all the forms studied. In this sketch 
Webber’s peculiarly appropriate term blepharoplast will be used, 
disregarding the terms used by the various writers. 
In Eguisetum arvense, according to Belajeff, there appears in the 
mother cell of the spermatozoid not only the cytoplasm and nucleus, 
but also a deeply staining body resembling a centrosome. This body 
stretches into a thread lying along the nucleus. The thread becomes 
differentiated into a row of granules (Hécker), each of which gives 
rise toa single cilium. In the fern, Gymnogramme sulphurea, in the 
cell which is to give rise to two spermatozoid mother cells, Belajeff 
figures two blepharoplasts at opposite poles of the nucleus, giving 4 
very centrosome-like aspect, but the blepharoplasts do not divide like 
Guignard’s centrosomes, and each spermatozoid mother cell receives 
but a single blepharoplast. The further history of the blepharoplast 
is essentially the same as in Equisetum. It is suggestive to note that 
in Chara there are two Hdcker, each of which gives rise to a single 
cilium. 
Shaw’s figures of Marsilea vestita might lead one to infer that the . 
blepharoplasts have some relation to nuclear division, their position 
at the poles giving them a very centrosome-like appearance ; but we 
are assured that there is no ground for the assertion that blepharoplasts 
are homologous or analogous with the centrosomes of those plants 
which have centrosomes, and that whether they have any relation to 
the centrosomes of lower plants must be settled by an investigation 
of the spermatogenesis and zoospore formation of these plants. Shaw 
did not succeed in determining the origin of the cilia, but believed it 
to be as described by Belajeff for Equisetum. 
The blepharoplasts of Gingko, Cycas, and Zamia are of gigantic 
size in comparison with those already mentioned. In these three 
forms, as in the cryptogams mentioned above, the blepharoplast 
stretches out into a band which gives rise to the cilia. Hirasé’s figures 
and descriptions of Gingko show that the blepharoplast is surrounded 
by kinoplasmic radiations in nearly all stages of its history. i¥e 
blepharoplasts first appear at opposite poles of the nucleus of the body 
