FERTILIZATION IN ABIES BALSAMEA 
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE HULL BOTANICAL LABORATORY 210 
A. H. HuTCHINSON 
(WITH PLATES XVI-XX AND ONE FIGURE) 
A general account of fertilization and the related phenomena 
in this species has been given by MryAk1 (19). A number of super- 
numerary nuclei were noted in the micropylar end of the egg at 
the time of fertilization. These were generally regarded as derived 
from the male gametophyte, while in some cases another nucleus, 
that of the ventral canal cell, was added to the number. Repeti- 
tion has been avoided, inasmuch as the present account is restricted 
to special problems, while the general account has received little 
attention. 
The problems suggested by the regular occurrence of four nuclei 
in the egg cytoplasm, near the micropylar end, at the time of the 
4-nucleate proembryo, and by the unusual grouping of chromosomes 
during the division which follows the conjugation of the egg and 
sperm nuclei, have led to this investigation. Special attention, 
therefore, will be given to the fertilization of the nucleus of the 
ventral canal cell and to the cytological features connected with 
the fertilization of the egg. 
The material was collected in Ontario, Canada. I am greatly 
indebted to Professor W. R. SmitH for collections made at Lake 
Joseph. On June 25 and 26 I obtained ovules showing fertilization 
at N. lat. 44°, W. long. 79°12’, and on July 2 and 3 ovules showing 
similar stages at N. lat. 45°30’, W. long. 78°32’. The altitude in 
the first case was goo feet; in the second 1800 feet. 
In a former paper on the male gametophyte of Abies (10), the 
excessive number of prothallial cells has been recorded. One of 
these polar cells, during mitosis, is shown in fig. 1. Fig. 5, which 
was drawn from a pollen grain lodged in the micropyle, shows the 
division of the body cell nucleus, to form two male nuclei, taking 
place before the tube breaks through the spore coat. At this time 
the cytoplasm surrounding the tube nucleus is extremely vacuolate, 
457] [Botanical Gazette, vol. 60 
