1915] BURLINGAME—ARAUCARIA BRASILIENSIS 9 
complete fusion and before complete division was secured. I have 
been forced to the conclusion that this stage must be of very brief 
duration. 
The relative position of the two sexual nuclei varies somewhat 
in different archegonia. The male cell probably comes in contact 
with the upper side of the egg nucleus. In many cases this relative 
position is shifted through the violence of the impact, so that the 
male cell may lie more or less to one side or even far around toward 
the bottom (fig. 13). 
The second male cell sometimes enters along with the functional 
one. I have seen no indications of its functioning in the manner 
reported for Agathis (8), or in any other manner. When it enters 
it soon degenerates (fig. 16). I have seen no evidence that it ever 
divides, as has been reported for some other conifers (ga, gb). 
Attention has been called to certain peculiar bodies in the 
cytoplasm around the fusing sexual nuclei and sometimes in that 
of the 2-nucleate proembryo. Fig. 15 shows two of these bodies. 
The one to the left may possibly be a disintegrating vegetative 
nucleus from the pollen tube, though I do not think so. The one 
lying in the cytoplasm between the nuclei certainly is not of this 
nature. They are not found in every cell, but occur frequently 
enough to be legitimate objects of curiosity. They suggest the 
blepharoplasts of the cycads. When they were first observed 
a diligent search was instituted immediately for similar structures 
in the body cell and the male cells before they enter the arche- 
gonium. The results were entirely negative. Fig. 17 shows one 
in the second male cell within the archegonium. The division 
of the fusion nucleus has not been observed, and it is possible that 
they may function here as blepharoplast-like or centrosome-like 
bodies. 
: Proembryo 
The division of the fusion nucleus probably follows soon after 
the complete union of the egg and sperm nuclei. The resulting 
nuclei may lie one above the other, side by side, or in an oblique 
Plane (figs. 17-19). They vary considerably in size, as is evident 
from a comparison of figs. 18 and 19. Before the next division 
there is a moderate increase of cytoplasm. The two nuclei 
