5 fe) BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JULY 
due to the denser aggregation of the spirem in these regions, but 
in some cases it is evidently due to the presence of bodies which retain 
the stain and appear to be giving up the stainable part of their sub- 
stance to the spirem. These bodies are evidently not the prochromo- 
somes found by OvERTON (22) in certain dicotyledons, nor are they 
the gamosomes of STRASBURGER (30, 31). 
Just the relation these bodies sustain to the spirem is not easy to 
determine. From figs. 12 and 14 it is evident that they are at first - 
small “nucleoli” caught in the contracting reticulum, but quite 
independent of it. Later they appear to give up a portion at least of 
their material to the spirem, finally disappearing as independent 
bodies. Usually, however, at least one of these bodies remains inde- 
pendent, and appears in synapsis and diakinesis as a small nucleolus 
bearing a definite relation to the size of the large nucleolus, being 
about the size of a chromosome. These bodies are usually free in 
_ the nuclear cavity (fig. 15). A certain depth of stain is required for 
demonstrating them during synapsis, for they usually decolorize more 
quickly than the large nucleolus. With a favorable stain they are 
found to be of strikingly uniform occurrence at this time. A plasma 
stain such as orange G may be used with advantage to demonstrate 
their presence. The uniformity in their occurrence is so great that 
for some time they were thought to be constant in size and number. 
With the demonstration of their inconstancy and their origin we have 
chosen to call them merely small nucleoli, as there appears to be no 
sufficient reason for another name. The (large) nucleolus disappears 
and are frequently found close by the heterotypic spindle. They 
may also be found on the homotypic spindle (fig. 41). Apparently 
they never reenter a nucleus, but remain in the cytoplasm until they 
finally disappear. These bodies have been found showing the same 
behavior in all the forms studied. 
