1900] THE CELL PLATE IN. HIGHER PLANTS 87 
fibers are shown as continuous lines. In my preparations the 
granular trophoplasm through which the fibers extend often has 
a radial appearance where the fibers are very abundant, but it is 
always possible in good preparations to distinguish the single 
threads (fig. 23). It is only by means of their distribution and 
arrangement that I would distinguish the radiating fibers from 
the other systems. They may be said to be centered in a gen- 
eral way on each pole, and to radiate through the cytoplasm in 
all directions toward the cell boundary, but at this stage very 
few appear to reach the plasma membrane. Their arrangement 
around the poles is by no means regular. Some of them lie 
across the poles in such a way as to have both ends free in the 
cytoplasm. With these it is of course often difficult to deter- 
mine whether a single fiber is seen, or whether the appearance is 
given by two fibers extending from the same point in opposite 
directions into the cytoplasm. In many cases, however, I have 
been able to satisfy myself that a single fiber extended through 
the pole and that its two ends lay free in the cytoplasm (fg. 23). 
This was most evident in cases where the fibers lay in such posi- 
tions as to form appreciable angles with the axis of the spindle. 
Where the apparent radiating fibers are continuous or nearly so 
with the long axis of the spindle it is often difficult to deter- 
mine whether they extend through the poles into the region 
of the spindle itself or whether they end at the poles. In some 
cases it appears as if such fibers are merely prolongations of the 
connecting or mantle fibers. I could not be certain on this 
point on account of the abundance of fibers in the polar regions 
of the spindle. Some, however, may be traced through the poles 
into the cytoplasm closely adjacent to the spindle. Still it can 
be readily observed that many of the radiating fibers which lie 
Closely adjacent to the spindle do not extend beyond the poles 
These latter fibers bear an interesting relation to the connect- 
Ing fibers, They often extend from the pole parallel to the 
connecting fibers, even uniting with the strands of the latter, 
nearly to the equator, where they curve outward and end blindly 
in the cytoplasm, Many of the fibers from each pole cross one 
