298 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [OCTOBER 
sac are narrowed and pointed. The nuclear substance in the 
pointed cells is dense, the nuclei are often flattened, and the cell 
content stains but slightly. The pointed end of the layer often 
becomes free from the embryo sac (fig. 13). As this layer is dis- 
appearing it is not always in close contact with the tapetum 
(fig. 10), and I infer that the disappearance of the epidermis is 
due, not to its being crushed between the tapetum and the enlarging 
embryo sac, but rather to the fact that it is being absorbed by the 
embryo sac. The basal portion of the epidermis continues to exist 
until after the 8-nucleate sac is formed (fig. 14). 
Not only is the entire epidermis absorbed eventually but the 
nucellus beneath the embryo sac also. During the early stages 
in the development of the embryo sac the cells of this part of the 
nucellus are similar to those of the interior of the integuments, but 
beginning with the 4-nucleate stage, or occasionally earlier, they. 
become stringy in appearance, with their long diameters in line 
with that of the sac. This strand of cells extends down to the 
chalaza which is composed of a tissue of regular, compact, densely 
staining, isodiametric cells (figs. 12, 14, 37). Many of the nuclei 
of the “‘stringy”’ cells show signs of disintegration. They become 
dense, lose their rounded outline, and appear elongated. These 
cells are bounded at the sides by the tapetum (fig. 14). The 
antipodal region. of the sac absorbs this tissue and pushes down to 
the nutritive cells of the chalaza, thus completing the absorption 
of the entire nucellus (fig. 37). J. Sultani agrees with I. parviflora 
(GUIGNARD 21) and J. amphorata (LONGO 28) in having the embryo 
sac absorb the nucellus and thus come in contact with the micropyle 
and the inner integument. These species of [mpatiens, therefore, 
agree with the Compositae (GotpFLus 17) in the early disappear- 
ance of the nucellus. 
As described by GuiGNarp (22), Rarrt (37), Lonco (28), and 
BRuNOTTE (10) for Impatiens, and by others for various angio- 
sperms, the epidermis of the inner integument forms the tapetum 
of regular tabular cells, which, in J. Sultani, extend from the base 
of the micropyle to a considerable distance below the base of the 
developing embryo sac (figs. 9, 10, 14). The tapetum loses its 
uniform character as early as the 2-nucleate stage of the embryo 
sac, when a densely staining substance appears between the tapetal 
