38 GENUS PALLAVICINIA 



decipiens could be sometimes seen, and at the extremity of the rays 

 of the spindle was a body which may have been a centrosphere. The 

 material, however, was not very well stained, and the nature of these 

 bodies was not perfectly clear. As no stages of mitosis were seen, it 

 remains to be seen whether the chrmosomes are four in number, as in 

 P. decipiens (Farmer [1] ), or eight, as in P. radiculosa. 



In the latter species (Fig. 21, A y E), there are eight chromosomes, — 

 thick, somewhat kidney-shaped bodies ; and instead of the quadripolar 

 spindle there is a conspicuous bipol'ar spindle of the usual form. The 

 chromosomes divide and arrange themselves in two groups which move 

 to the poles of the spindle, where without assuming the form of a resting 

 nucleus they divide again, and a second bipolar spindle is formed. It 

 was supposed that as the result of a reduction division there would be 

 only four chromosomes in the young spores ; but there is no question 

 that eight are present in most cases, at least, 'and none were seen where 

 the number was four. A similar condition was found by Farmer in P. 

 decipiens, and it is also the case in Calycularia radiculosa. (See Camp- 

 bell [2].) 



It still remains to be seen where the reduction division occurs in these 

 liverworts. 



