270 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [ APRIL 
more than two or three. This is worth noting, for the oosphere 
nucleus, soon after the cutting off of the ventral canal cell, 
contains a very large number of nucleoli. The chromatin is 
extremely scanty, unless, perhaps, it is in a diffuse state or 
forms a part of the nucleoli. 
The mitotic figure concerned in the cutting off of the ventral 
canal cell presents a very characteristic appearance. The spindle 
is strongly developed and the part lying in the oosphere is some- 
times quite convex, while the part within the ventral canal cell 
is concave (fig. 2.) The ventral canal cell usually begins to 
show signs of disorganization almost as soon as it is cut off. In 
this figure the nucleus had evidently reached the spirem stage 
before it began to disorganize. A similar difference betweet 
the nucleus of the ventral canal cell and that of the oosphere a 
this stage was noticed in several cases. In fig. 3 the nucleus 
had developed further’ before disorganization set in, for a fully 
formed nuclear membrane is present and the chromatin is in the 
form of nucleoli or irregular masses. It is not unusual for the 
ventral canal cell to become separated from the egg as shown ® 
this figure. In such cases the separation is due to the splitting 
of the wall between the two cells, and in some cases, eve? whea 
no separation has taken place, as in figs. 6 and 7, the wall . 
be seen to be double. A later stage is shown in jig. 5,™ 
the ventral canal cell is reduced to a deeply staining mas a 
ably of mucus-like consistency, in which no structure Is ag 
ible. ig. 4 represents a ventral canal cell of about the 
age as the preceding, but the chromatin is not so mee? 
the other cell contents are scanty. It does not seem pro - 
that such a cell, in its later stages, would present the phage 
shown in jig. § or exert such an influence upon the eg 
pollen tube as might be expected in the latter case pe 
fig. 5 and fig. 6, the nuclear membrane has entirely seas ore of 
and no structure can be made out except that the “ 
less homogeneous and contains a few nucleoli. 
oli here represent the chromatin is proved by a 
fgured- 
series, of which only a few stages (figs. 2, 3 and 5) ate “: 
