98 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [FEBRUARY 
the single ovule was a modification of an axillary shoot bearing 
sporangia”’ (30, 31). 
In the face of opinions so diverse, the desirability of additional 
facts is very evident. We know already that the pollen grains and 
pollen tubes of Araucaria contain numerous nuclei, most of which 
are prothallial or vegetative (13, 24, 25, 26), and that the same 
condition obtains in Agathis (24), with the added information that 
there are definitely ‘‘two large male nuclei” (6). Among the 
Podocarpineae the same conditions are known to be true for 
Podocar pus (1, 2, 5, 8, 22, 33), Dacrydium (8, 23, 32, 33), Phyllo- 
cladus (11, 33), Saxegothaea (15, 29), and Microcachrys (28). 
The present investigation was undertaken in the belief that addi- 
tional knowledge of the morphology of the Araucarineae would aid 
very materially in clarifying our ideas concerning the origin (or 
origins) of Coniferales and the relationship of the Pinaceae, par- 
ticularly the Abietineae, and the Podocarpineae (and Taxaceae 
generally). 
The materials for this investigation have been secured through 
the kindness of Mr. James C. Fioop of San Francisco, California, 
from his country place, Linden Towers, at Menlo Park, California, 
to whom the writer wishes to express his sense of obligation and 
appreciation. He is also under obligation for actual assistance in 
making the collections to the generous assistance of Mr. Roacu, the 
gardener at Linden Towers, to whom also-his thanks are due. 
Collections were begun in March 1910 and made weekly up to the 
middle of November, when they were interrupted by illness until 
February 1911. Collections were again made from November 15, 
1911, to February 1912, thus completing the series. 
Various killing and fixing agents have been tried. A solution 
recommended by Juet (10) gave as satisfactory results as any for 
most stages. Flemming’s stronger solution, as well as the chrom- 
acetic mixture recommended in CHAMBERLAIN’s Methods in plant 
histology, also gave good results for some stages, but fails to penetrate 
the microsporangium during the development and division of the 
mother cells, owing partly to the nearly impervious epidermis that 
develops about this time, and partly, perhaps, to the presence then 
in the pollen sacs of a sort of mucilage, apparently produced by the 
