1911] _HAGUE—DIOSPY ROS 39 
to pollination, as the stimulating cause of the development of the 
ovary into the characteristic persimmon fruit. 
In the paper previously referred to on “The seedless persimmon,” 
the seedless fruit is reported to occur most abundantly on the 
lowest branches of the trees. No differences were found in the 
flowers; all had a fertile pistil and sterile stamens. The examina- 
tion of the embryo sacs brought out no evidence of pollination or 
fertilization. In one case cited, if pollen is transferred from the 
staminate trees, the bees must carry it three or four miles; this 
was not determined. Perfect flowers are suggested as a possible 
source of the pollen. Any attempt to explain or to suggest the 
problems of pollination involved is impossible until further obser- 
vations are made. 
Late stages of embryo sac; endosperm and embryo 
The absence of evidence of pollination and fertilization has 
made impossible at present a connected account of the series of 
events in a normal seed-producing sac following the eight-celled 
stage, nor can these stages be surely identified, because the ovules 
of the seeded fruit frequently fail to develop into seeds, and since 
the normal course has not been determined, it is uncertain where 
the two diverge and what the differences are. 
The entire ovule increases very rapidly in size after the corolla 
falls off, but no sign of an embryo was found for a number of 
weeks afterward. Material sent from Memphis is past blooming 
the latter part of May, but not until the last of June or the first 
of July can embryos be found easily in the fresh material. Long 
before this the sac has become densely filled with endosperm. 
Judging from the size of the sac, the first division of the primary 
endosperm nucleus follows closely on the fusion of the polars, and 
the other divisions follow rapidly after this (figs. 22, 23a, 236). 
The antipodal nuclei disappear after the eight-celled stage, 
but the micropylar nuclei undergo interesting changes. In fig. 
17@ there are three protoplasmic masses very distinctly differen- 
tiated. The middle one contains numerous, rather large, spheri- 
cal, densely staining bodies. Because of its size, position, and 
