464 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [DECEMBER 
cytoplasmic inclusions within the a The chromatin is the 
fundamental nuclear substance. 
Discussion 
The ventral canal cell—The general tendency among the Co- 
niferales is toward the reduction of the ventral canal cell. In the 
Abietineae a cell is cut off by a cell wall; in the Taxineae and 
Cupressineae, as groups, a ventral nucleus is formed, but no cell 
is organized; while in Torreya (15) there is no ventral cell, the 
nucleus of the central cell becoming the egg nucleus. In Abies the 
nucleus of the ventral canal cell functions as an egg. In Pinus 
Laricio (3, p. 278), “‘while the ventral canal cell nucleus usually 
disappears soon after it is formed, in some cases it persists, and its 
nucleus becomes as large as that of the oosphere, passing through 
a similar developmental history. New support is thus given to 
the theory that the ventral canal cell is the homologue of the egg.” 
NicHots (21) describes (fig. 90) ‘‘two nuclei resulting from the 
division of the ventral canal cell nucleus” in Juniperus. The ven- 
tral canal cell ‘‘is fairly persistent in Tsuga (20). When division 
is complete, its nucleus is equal in size and similar in structure to 
the nucleus of the egg, and for some time shows the same stages 
of development.” 
The most extreme development recorded is in the case of Thuja, 
described by Lanp (14). ‘A number of the writer’s preparations 
of Thuja lead him to believe that both the ventral nucleus and the 
egg, in the same archegonium, may be fertilized. In fig. 17 the 
proembryo is well advanced, while the ventral nucleus has formed 
a group of four cells. Another preparation shows eight cells with 
indications that walls are soon to appear. The probability of such 
a fertilization is strengthened by finding occasionally in the same 
ovule embryos growing upward into the nucellus, as well as down- 
ward into the endosperm” (p. 224). These facts and those already 
described for Abies remove any doubt that the ventral canal cell 
is potentially an egg. 
The cytoplasmic “‘mantle’’ about the egg nucleus is present in 
most species of Coniferales. NicHots (21) describes it in Juniperus 
as follows: “The mass of cytoplasm and starch derived from the 
