1909] GRIGGS—MITOSIS IN SYNCHYTRIUM 343 
spirem is converted into the four chromosomes of metaphase (figs. 
14,15). Very frequently, however, the contraction is so pronounced 
that the individual chromosomes cannot be made out in the chromatic 
mass at the equator (jig. 13). 
Some spindles show nucleoli lying in the nuclear cavity beside 
the spindle; in others no nucleolus is present. No difference was 
observed between the spindles with nucleoli and those without; but 
it was observed that in any given cyst all of the spindles were alike 
in this respect—either all had nucleoli or all lacked them. In rare 
cases more than one of these bodies were present. The nucleoli 
remain beside the spindle till after the daughter nuclei have separated 
in telophase (figs. 22, 29, 33), when they disappear. 
As soon as the spindle is formed, the nuclear membrane with the 
small chromatic granules which are imbedded in it begins to disappear 
(figs. 10-15), soon leaving the spindle free in the cytoplasm. As is 
usual with the intranuclear spindles of fungi, the metaphase in which 
the chromatin is all concentrated at the equator, if we may judge 
from the frequency with which it is observed, is of long duration. 
This is in contrast with the mitoses of the higher plants, where good 
metaphases, far from being the commonest, are observed less fre- 
quently than other stages. 
Anaphase and telophase 
The spherical chromosomes are pulled away from each other in 
the usual manner by the fibers of the spindle, which are exceedingly 
heavy (figs. 15,17). In early anaphase, figures stained with anilin 
safranin and gentian violet show the chromosomes red and the spindle 
violet but in hematoxylin preparations the chromosomes are difficult 
to differentiate from the spindle fibers. This difficulty increases in 
late anaphase until it becomes impossible to distinguish chromatic 
from achromatic structures, even when stained with the safranin- 
Violet combination. When the chromosomes pull apart, they remain 
connected by heavy fibers similar to those by which they were pulled 
away from each other (fig. 18), which persist long after the chromo- 
somes become lost in the condensed mass at the poles (jig. 19). 
These deeply staining fibers are very conspicuous and give a character- 
istic appearance to side views of anaphases, which somewhat resem- 
