S12 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [APRIL 
of resolving power of the microscope. This introduces what should 
frankly be recognized as a potential source of error, and dealt 
with accordingly. In undertaking this study it was hoped that 
the more obvious sequence of events in a parthenogenetic plant 
might afford a check upon observations necessarily made under 
conditions of optical difficulty. This hope has at least been 
partially justified. 
VARIATION IN CELL PROCESSES.—Cytologists have, through no 
fault of judgment, been so charged with the duty of learning the 
normal sequence of events in plants that as a rule they have given 
little attention to “anomalies.” Even the most conservative 
theories of the cell as a physico-chemical mechanism must admit 
the likelihood of considerable fluctuation in its processes. 
WASIELEWSKI (27) emphasizes the phylogenetic continuity between 
mitosis and the types of amitosis produced by chloroforming 
meristem. Moreover, the results obtained by NATHANSOHN (16) 
in producing abnormal division types by the use of ether are highly 
suggestive, when viewed either in the light of modern theories of 
anaesthesia or of such work as that of Bonns (2). The latter has 
clearly shown a marked increase in proteolytic enzyme activity 
as a result of etherization. The experiments of Horres (8), 
demonstrating powerful effects of temperature change upon the 
spindle mechanism, are likewise significant. They become pecu- 
liarly so in connection with the intimate relation of temperature 
to enzyme activity. 
Careful study and classification of variations in cell behavior 
have already yielded data of interest in genetics, and they may » 
afford the clue to an isolation and analysis of the factors involved 
in cell behavior, which are now known, so far as they are recogniz 
by terms so general as to be noncommittal. 
Procedure 
All material studied was collected from plants which had been 
identified after fruiting. A wide range of fixing reagents was 
tested, including mixtures of absolute alcohol and glacial acetic 
acid in various proportions. The best results were obtained wit 
a solution of two parts of alcohol and one of acid. Beautiful 
