FATE OF SECOND MALE NUCLEUS IN EMBRYO-SAC, 177 
resting condition, can scarcely be distinguished from the nucleus of 
an unfecundated egg. The nucleoli finally unite also. 
The worm-like or S-shape form of the male nucleus in L/éum, 
first described by the author in 1897 (Mottier, ’97, p. 23), has since 
that time attracted the close attention of students of fecundation 
generally. Guignard, having observed the same phenomenon in 1899, 
concluded to designate these vermiform nuclei as antherozoids, evidently 
attributing to them the power of locomotion. Asa matter of fact these 
nuclei do not possess cilia or any other cytoplasmic organ of loco- 
motion, nor have the male nuclei in any Angiosperm been found to 
possess any such structures. Nuclei in many vegetative cells of both 
plants and animals are known to be able to change their form, and the 
fact that in the embryo-sac the male nuclei may assume a worm-like 
shape, which merely suggests a squirming or vermiform motion, is not 
a sufficient reason for designating them as spermatozoids. So far as 
is known, all spermatozoids are provided with a cytoplasmic organ of 
locomotion, existing in the form of a cilium or cilia, and it certainly 
does not conduce to clearness to apply this term to the male nuclei of the 
Angiosperms. Strasburger (1900) claims that the vermiform nucleus 
moves passively in the embryo-sac, basing his opinion upon observa- 
tions of the embryo-sac of Aozotropa in the living condition. A 
streaming movement was seen in the cytoplasmic strand connecting 
the egg-cell with the endosperm nucleus, and, in the light of this fact, 
it is highly probable that the second male nucleus is carried to the 
endosperm nucleus by that means. 
THE FATE OF THE SECOND MALE NUCLEUS IN THE 
EMBRYO-SAC. 
The fact that one of the male nuclei fuses with a polar nucleus, or 
with the endosperm nucleus in certain lilies and in species of widely 
separated families, has also aroused a keen interest among botanists, 
and has called forth much interesting and suggestive speculation. In 
1897 the author called attention to the fact that the second male nucleus 
in Lilium martagon applied itself to one of the polar nuclei, but the 
actual fusion was not observed. The plants from which the material 
was obtained produced few or no seeds that year, and all preparations 
of embryo-sacs, examined at a time when normally fecundated eggs 
should have been present, gave only evidence of disorganization, and 
it was concluded that probably a fusion of the nuclei did not proceed 
further, which under the circumstances may have been true. Later, 
other investigators as well as the author have observed this nuclear 
