464 ° BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JUNE 
The nuclear phenomena in connection with spermatium formation 
have also been examined. The “basal cells”? which bud off the spermatia 
contain one, two, or even three nuclei. These divide mitotically, pro- 
viding nuclei for the successively abstricted spermatia. A constric- 
tion appears near the tip of the basal cell, and the nucleus passes through 
the narrow portion into the tip, after which the constriction becomes 
completed, cutting off a spermatium. In no case did the nucleus appear 
to be pinched into two parts by the constriction. The spermatia vary 
in length, some of them being more than three times as long as the 
diameter of the nucleus, so that they contain much besides nucle 
material. In several two nuclei were observed. 
A full description of the phenomena outlined above, with figures, 
will appear in a later paper, together with results of further investiga- 
tion into the origin of the binucleate condition of the aecidial mycelium.— 
LEsTER W. Suarp, The University of Chicago. 
