146 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [AUGUST 
merely an undifferentiated tissue which practically continues the 
tissue of the gametophyte, that is, it is simply growth and not 
organization.” 
From 1902 to 1913 practically nothing new was published on 
the subject of fertilization. In 1913 BLACKMAN and WELSFORD (1) 
reported that the chromatin of the vermiform male nucleus was in a 
network, although not the network of a resting nucleus, this condi- 
tion becoming more noticeable later on. At times they also noted 
that the chromatin of the egg might become threadlike just previous 
to fusion. 
The most recent paper on fertilization is by Sax (16) in 1916 
on fertilization in Fritillaria pudica, in which he noted that the 
vermiform sperm lay indented in the egg for some time before the 
membranes between them disappeared. The chromatin was in 
more or less of a network and the granules were of various sizes. 
When the membranes at the surface of contact broke down, the 
contents of the two nuclei mingled and were not distinguishable 
from each other. The spirem usually appears after this. Triple 
fusion was also complete and the resulting nucleus divided before 
that of the fertilized egg. 
In none of these cases have the chromatin changes been carefully 
followed from the time of contact of the nuclei until the completion 
of the first division, the emphasis previously having been placed 
upon the actual coming together, the uniting, and the very earliest 
steps in division. 
The process of fertilization and distribution of the chromatin 
contributed by the egg and sperm in Pinus and Abies has been 
carefully worked out by FERGUSON (4, 5) and HuTCHINSON (12), and 
it was with the desire that something of this nature should be done 
for angiosperms that the present investigation was undertaken. 
Materials and methods 
For fertilization of the egg, Trillium grandiflorum was used, the 
material being collected in damp woods along the Des Plaines River, 
northwest of Evanston, Illinois, from May 3 to May 26, 1916. The 
first collection was made at the time of pollination, although the 
pollen tube was not seen in the micropyle until two weeks later, 
