108 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [FEBRUARY 
Whether the pollen shed in the early part of the season finds a 
lodgment in a position to become effective is uncertain. Neither 
does there appear to be any available data as to whether this 
precocious shedding of pollen occurs in its native habitat. Though 
California and Brazil exhibit a somewhat rough correspondence in 
their seasons of rainfall and plant growth, yet it is probably not 
sufficiently exact to permit of any very satisfactory inferences as to 
the corresponding behavior in 
the two habitats. | 
I have not yet ascertained cer- 
tainly how long a time elapses 
after the pollen falls on the 
scale before germination occurs. 
Grains that have germinated 
can be found in the latter part 
of summer after the fogs have 
set in. Meantime during the 
summer the ovule is forming 
and the stigmatic nucellus is 
usually ready to receive the ad- 
Fics. 10, 11—Fig. 10, ovule and sep agate ene on 
scale in December, showing course of m September or October. ‘ 
pollen tubes; fig. 1x, course of pollen I have not so far succeeded in 
tube through nucellus to archegonium. germinating pollen to any very 
advanced stage, nor have I been 
able to follow with any certainty the course of events in the pollen 
tube before it reaches the nucellus. When the ovuliferous scales 
are pulled apart, very numerous pollen tubes are usually found 
sewed back and forth between the two adjacent surfaces of the 
scales. One can sometimes isolate one without completely de- 
stroying it, but I have learned from such preparations nothing 
more than that there are numerous nuclei and a body cell present. 
One could infer that they would be there, inasmuch as they were 
in the pollen grain, and they are afterward present in the tu 
when it enters the nucellus. Whether division of the prothallial 
nuclei occurs in the tube or not is uncertain, owing to the fact 
that I have never been able to obtain an entire tube in which I 
