136 
WALTER P. THOMPSON 
and of representative forms from the whole Angiospermic series, the 
need of the investigation is all the more urgent. 
The present work is an attempt to supply the missing data. In 
it are described the gametophytes, endosperm, embryo, and those 
parts of the sporophytic generation concerned with reproduction. 
In almost all cases the development of the structures concerned is 
described. Finally the bearing of the results obtained on the general 
problems such as those just outlined is discussed. The data have 
been obtained from several species of the genus. Two species repre- 
senting the extremes of variation have been studied in practically 
all stages, and parts of the life history of several other species were 
determined. 
2. History 
The history of the work on the morphology of the inflorescences 
and flowers was narrated very clearly and completely in 191 3 by 
Lignier and Tison (17) to whose article the reader is referred. The 
work on the gametophytic generation prior to 1899 was carefully 
reviewed by Lotsy (19). As this is the subject with which we are 
primarily concerned in the present work, the principal publications 
should be mentioned. They are those of Karsten (12, 13 and 14), 
of Strasburger (25) and of Bower (5). All these contributions and 
that of Lotsy give us only fragments of the life history. And since 
the publication of Lotsy 's work in 1899 very few articles have ap- 
peared dealing with this phase of the life history. In a further con- 
tribution Lotsy (20) claimed that parthenogenesis may occur in 
G. ula. In 1908 Coulter (7) described a mature embryo-sac and 
some early stages in embryo-formation in G. gnemon. In 1912 Pearson 
(22) described some early stages in the male gametophyte of G. 
africanum} 
3. Materials and Collections 
The material on which this investigation is based was collected 
during a visit to the Malay Archipelago in 1913. Most of the col- 
lecting was done in the Botanic Garden at Buitenzorg, Java, and in 
the adjacent country. Collections were also made at several other 
localities in Java and at Singapore. 
1 Since the present paper went to the printer a more recent article by Pearson 
has appeared (Jour. Linn. Soc. 43: 55-65, 1915) in which he described the strobili of 
Gnetum and the development of the endosperm. 
