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ends Lad turned round towards the observer was one whicli bo could 
not accept, more especially as Miss Sargant showed that it must occur 
at a comparatively late stage of development. This, however, did not 
agree with his own observations, according to which the appearance 
was to be found at an early stage of division. Moreover, the width of 
the chromosome, as a whole, at this stage was hardly great enough to 
support Miss Sargant’s view of the matter. As to what the interpre- 
tation of the phenomena might be, he did not wish to make any definite 
statement ; but a view which he had already expressed still seemed 
to possess a certain degree of probability, namely, that the original 
arrangement of the chromatin resembled a flattened ring or ellipse ; 
that during development the ring-like character was lost, owing to the 
sides of the ellipse approximating ; that the chromosome, which now 
would appear as a rod, doubled over on itself in a fashion something 
like the Greek letter 12. After illustrating his meaning by drawing 
figures on the board to represent the stages referred to, he showed 
that it followed as a consequence that the division of the chromosome 
was not really longitudinal at all, but transverse. The Y shape imme- 
diately adopted by the daughter-chromosomes would then be due to the 
opening out of the halves of the hitherto closed, ring. He thought, 
also, that all the work done on the animal side of the subject went to 
show that the chromosomes in this so-called “ reduction ” division, split 
transversely. He pointed out the difference between the first and second 
nuclear divisions in the pollen-grain, which had an important bearing on 
the question. He was pleased to find that both Miss Sargant’s and his 
own observations concurred as to the existence of these peculiar figures, 
the point of difference being really largely one of interpretation. 
Mr. J. E. S. Moore said, It was well known that at a corresponding 
period in the development of the reproductive elements in animals a 
similar reduction in the number of the chromosomes occurred ; and it 
had lately been shown that this reduction was brought about in the 
resting condition of the nuclei before the mitosis in which the reduced 
number of the chromosomes first appeared. Further, this correspondence 
in the manner of chromatic reduction both in animals and plants had 
been shown by Prof. Farmer and himself to extend through so many 
minute structural details, that the interpretation put upon the phenomena 
now observed appeared to him to be improbable, since it excluded the 
possibility of such a correspondence ; and more especially because the 
variations in the form of the lily chromosomes described appeared to be 
analogous to what he had himself seen in a corresponding period in the 
spermatogenesis of Newts, and consequently they could be used equally 
well to support his own and Prof. Farmer’s view that the process of 
chromatic reduction is identical both in animals and plants. 
Dr. Scott, in reply, said that Miss Sargant’s work rested on a broad 
basis of observation. There were several stages observed by her which 
did not appear to be explained by the other hypotheses which had been 
suggested. Mr. Moore’s comparison with corresponding karyokinetic 
processes in animals was very interesting, but it seemed to him unsound 
to base an argument on the assumption of a minute agreement between 
animals and plants in these respects. Such an agreement had to be 
proved by detailed observations. Miss Sargant had now extended her 
