PTERIDOPHYTA. 133 
in some cases in which the stain was well washed out the structure 
appeared coarsely reticulate or granular. This was observed in sper- 
matozoids of Oxoclea struthiopterds that were killed on the slide in 
chrom-osmic-acetic acid and stained in safranin gentian-violet and 
orange G. 
The posterior turns of the spermatozoid embrace the vesicle, which 
presents a very fine reticulum, and in which coarse granules are held, 
among them being small starch grains. The author has observed that 
the vesicle of Oxoclea struthiopteris became separated from the 
spermatozoids a short time after their escape from the antheridium ; 
for, of the many hundreds fixed and stained upon the slide a few 
minutes after their escape from the antheridia, relatively few were 
found with the vesicle adhering. 
The development of the spermatozoid of Marszlia, according to 
Shaw (’98) and Belajeff (’99), differs in certain important details 
from that of Oxoclea. As this process is known in so few of the 
Pteridophyta, it is perhaps well to present briefly the facts as they 
are known in one of the heterosporous forms. 
At the close of the second from the last division in the spermogenous 
tissue of Marszlia vestita, or that leading to the great-grandmother- 
cell of the spermatozoid (the primary spermatocyte of Shaw), there 
appears at each pole of the spindle, or near it close to the daughter- 
nucleus, a small body which is called by Shaw a dlepharoplastoid. 
During the resting stage of the nucleus the blepharoplastoid seems to 
divide. The two halves increase in size and remain together near the 
nucleus. As soon as the nucleus of the great-grandmother-cell begins 
to divide, the pair of blepharoplastoids move away from the nucleus 
and remain at a position in the cytoplasm between one pole of the 
spindle and the equatorial plane, until the metaphase, or early anaphase, 
when they disappear. About the same time, or a little later, a small 
‘blepharoplast appears near each pole of the spindle. At the close of 
the division the blepharoplast lies near the nucleus of the grand- 
mother-cell of the spermatozoid (secondary spermatocyte or sperma- 
tocyte mother-cell of Shaw). It now divides, and the two daughter 
blepharoplasts increase in size and separate from each other, at the 
same time moving away from the nucleus (Fig. 53, A, B). Each 
takes a position near the pole of the future spindle but always a little 
to one side of its longitudinal axis. They increase in size and remain 
apparently unchanged in structure until the anaphase, when each seems 
to be hollow (Fig. 53, B, C). 
As soon as the nucleus of the spermatozoid mother-cell (spermatid) 
