46 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JANUARY 
space within the nucleus becomes gradually clearer (jig. 5), the nuclear 
sap probably reinforcing the substance of the granules. As the 
result of the disintegration of the central body and the growth of the 
other granules, there may be seen lying within the nucleus twenty 
or more granules (jigs. 4, 5, 6). In a few cases these bodies may 
slightly cohere, but in the majority of cases they lie free. No cases 
were found here or in later stages of the formation of a spirem. 
In many instances all the bodies within the nucleus retained merely 
the eosin stain (fig. 6), and hence were entirely undifferentiated from 
each other. In a few cases, like jigs. 5, 7, 8, some of the bodies 
retained only the black stain from the hematoxylin. In one instance 
(jig. 11), a faintly stained larger body, with one or two smaller ones 
of similar shade, can be seen lying within the nuclear space, sur- 
rounded by numerous more deeply stained granules. If the other 
stages mentioned had not been observed, the latter faintly stained 
body might have been interpreted as a nucleolus like those in higher 
plants, now in the act of becoming dissolved in the cytoplasm. 
Extended comparison, however, of parallel stages justifies the view 
that this body is only a portion of the central mass of the quiescent 
nucleus, about to undergo still further disintegration into chromo- 
somes. 
The many chromosomes thus resulting approach one another 
(jigs. 6, 9), presenting in many cases an appearance analogous to 
the synapsis stage described as occurring in the higher plants. Finally 
they become arranged in a circle concentric with the short axis of 
the cell. In one case (fig. 10), such an arrangement was observed 
before the nuclear membrane became dissolved. Fig. 14 shows this 
massing of granules in the equatorial plane after the dissolution of 
the nuclear membrane. The chromosomes in this cell were all 
stained black, but some were drawn in lighter tint to show that they 
were lying in three different planes. Fig. 15 also represents a 
similar stage, and fig. 18 one somewhat further advanced. The 
chromosomes now appear to be denser than in previous stages, an 
interpretation based upon the circumstance that the hematoxylin 
stain does not as readily become washed out. 
After having formed the ring they appear to be drawn inward, 
becoming denser and undergoing a process of fusion. By this draw- 
