158 BOTANICAL GAZETTE aren | 
scarcely at all developed, and here also, as Westermaier ha | 
pointed out in Zea and other grasses, this group of antipodal | 
cells functions as the endosperm in the early stages of devel 
opment after fertilization. | 
The nuclei in the antipodal cells of Sparganium never show 
any indications of fragmentation, such as has been described for 
the large antipodal cells of some Ranunculacez,® but they remait_ 
sharply defined, and the large nucleolus persists unchanged s 
far as has yet been observed. 1 
Later there is the usual formation of cell-walls between the 
endosperm-nuclei, and the development of the endosperm pti- 
ceeds centripetally. In the oldest stages examined (fg. g), the 
large mass of antipodals was still evident, although there wett 
some indications of breaking down in these cells. Whether 
traces of them can be detected in the ripe seed remains to be . 
seen, 
The development of the embryo of Sparganium has beet 
already followed in S. ramosum Huds. by Hegelmaier,® but he gives 
no account of the embryo-sac. My own studies on the embry? 
are still too incomplete to make a comparison with the resul 
of Hegelmaier possible. The embryo has the suspensor ofl) 
slightly developed and there are a number of suggestive — 
blances to the embryo of the grasses, which, in connection with 
the strong similarity in the embryo-sac, point to 2 possible < ; 
nection between the Sparganiacee and Graminez. bad : 
As already indicated, it is among the Graminee that We 
the type of embryo-sac which resembles most that of Sparganu : 
Hofmeister? was the first to call attention to the conspicu ; 
antipodal cells in certain Graminez, and showed that the nue! 
might exceed the three usually found in angiosperms. pee 
the Triticez he found the number to be from six aisle 
; , Ade go: 24! 
5’ Mortigr, Contributions to the embryology of Ranunculacee. Bor. G 
248, 276, 304. 1895. it 
+, pee 6gh 
6 Zur Entwickelungsgeschichte monocotyledoner Keime. Bot. Zeit. 32 i ore 
: 1. ‘ 
. 7Embryobildung der Phanerogamen, II. Monocotyledonen. Anat a 
Sachs. Gesell. d. Wiss. gin. 1861. : 
