1915] BURLINGAME—ARAUCARIA BRASILIENSIS 5 
I have not been able to decide from the evidence at hand which is 
the more probable hypothesis. 
In preparation for fertilization the egg nucleus enlarges con- 
siderably. Fibrillar cytoplasm is not uncommon in mature eggs, 
and sometimes, as pointed out in a preceding paragraph, forms an 
inclosing sheath when for any reason fertilization is delayed. The 
fibers of these sheaths run tangentially to the nucleus and remind 
one somewhat of the development of spindle fibers. They are 
much more abundant than is usual in the development of a multi- 
polar spindle, and furthermore there is no reason to suppose that 
these mature egg nuclei are about to divide, unless for the formation 
of the ventral canal cell nucleus. I have seen no evidence what- 
ever of their actually developing a spindle. Moreover, the arche- 
gonia appear to have passed their maturity already. Yet, in view 
of the uncertainty of the ventral canal nucleus being cut off, this 
possibility cannot be entirely excluded. 
The nuclear membrane is well developed and incloses a relatively 
small mass of chromatin distributed on a fine linin network. The 
whole is immersed in a large volume of nuclear sap. Fig. 9 shows 
these facts very clearly, except that the wrinkled condition of the 
nuclear membrane doubtless indicates that considerable shrink- 
age in volume has occurred through the application of reagents. 
The chromatin is distributed in more or less definite strands of 
beadlike masses on the very delicate linin. The total number of 
these chromatin masses in a nucleus is very large. The total mass 
is also surprisingly large when one considers its volume in the fusion 
nucleus and in the first two nuclei of the proembryo. 
Fertilization 
The archegonia are mature and ready for fertilization in Cali- 
fornia about the last week of March or the first week of April. 
At this time the egg nucleus is usually situated a little above the 
middle of the archegonium. The egg cytoplasm has almost com- 
pletely filled the archegonium. The vacuoles that were so con- 
spicuous in the earlier stages of development have all disappeared. 
Neither starch nor other form of stored food seems to be present 
in the cytoplasm. As will be shown presently, the cytoplasm 
