1911] CURRENT LITERATURE 159 
Syndiploid nuclei.—In 1904 N&EmeEc% showed that in vegetative tissues 
the nuclei of binucleate or multinucleate cells may fuse, giving rise to what 
STRASBURGER has called syndiploid nuclei and cells. In such cells the mitoses 
show a correspondingly high number of chromosomes, but in some cases the 
syndiploid condition disappears from the meristematic zone, and NEMEC 
believed that a reduction of chromosomes had taken place. In a preliminary 
note he mentions two kinds of reduction figures: one characterized by 
chromatin tetrads which split so that bivalent chromosomes arrive at the poles; 
. in the other the diploid number appears suddenly without any tetrads, perhaps 
due to a fusion of chromosomes. 
In chloralized roots tips of Vicia Faba, syndiploid cell rows are quite nu- 
merous in the lateral rootlets, but such rows often end blindly and are replaced 
by diploid rows. This may happen in different ways. Asyndiploid row may be 
replaced directly by a diploid one, and in this case it is probable that a reduc- 
tion of chromosomes has taken place; or the syndiploid initials may die a 
neighboring cells may crowd in; or peripheral syndiploid initials may cea 
to function. In these three ways it may come to pass that the lateral ‘sok 
" Mnay finally consist of only diploid cells. 
It must be remembered that, while binucleate and multinucleate cells are 
rather common in plants, the syndiploid condition has as yet been studied 
almost exclusively in chloralized material—CHARLES J. CHAMBERLAIN. 
Sporogonium of Conocephalum.—Miss GRAHAM, studying Conocephalum 
conicum (Fegatella conica), finds that at Ithaca, N.Y., the gametophores begin 
to appear in June, that fertilization takes place about the first of July, that 
the spores are fully formed before the beginning of winter, and that in the fol- 
lowing May the gametophore stalk rapidly elongates. This elongation is 
quickly followed by the elongation of the stalk of the sporogonium. The 
venter ot the archegonium is two-layered at the time of fertilization, and soon 
becomes a massive calyptra. The first division of the fusion nucleus gives 
rise to two free nuclei, which may lie parallel with or transversely to the major 
axis of the archegonium. A cell wall is not laid down until some little time has 
elapsed after division of the fusion nucleus ; when the wall appears, it is trans- 
verse. By successive transverse divisions a filament of four or five cells is 
formed. This observation differs from that of Cavers, who described an 
octant stage; the reviewer’s observations agree with those of Miss GRAHAM. 
The first longitudinal walls appear in the outer or capsule end of the filament. 
3% NEmEc, B., Ueber die Einwirkung des Chloralhydrats fau die Kern- und 
Zellteilung. ge Wiss. Bot. 39:645-730. figs. 157. 1904. 
39. Ueber das Schicksal der syndiploid Kerne und Zellen. Ber. Deutsch. 
Bot. Gesell. 29:113-115. 1910. 
# GRAHAM, MarGareT C., Development cf the sporogonium and adjacent tissues 
of the ayo of Conocephalum conicum. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 36:615-625. 
Pls. 30-33. 1909. 
