295 
in the Pollen- Mother-Cells of Larix. 
figured by Belajeff and Strasburger. The nuclear membrane 
now has a folded or wavy outline and often a granular appear- 
ance. The nucleole also shows signs of dissolution ; it displays 
a greater affinity for the orange stain, is vacuolated (Fig. is) 
and often collapsed. There is about this time a marked 
increase in the amount of intra-nuclear fibres, which, however, 
are still ragged, granular, and wavy. 
4. The Multipolar Spindle. 
After the nuclear membrane disappears (Fig. 13), a distinc- 
tion may be made for a time between the fibres derived from 
the cytoplasmic felt and those filling the nuclear cavity, which 
seem to be wholly or chiefly of nuclear origin. The latter, 
though now forming a continuous system with the cytoplasmic 
fibres, are relatively loosely arranged, with large spaces 
between them, and are still granular, while the cytoplasmic 
fibres still form a rather compact layer and are much more 
uniform in thickness. Already a tendency can be noted to 
a pulling out of the fibres in certain places to form poles. 
This seems to come about, not under the influence of peri- 
pheral fibres, as described by Belajeff, but by an actual 
outward movement of the ends of some of the fibres of the 
central mass. At least, the study of a large number of 
preparations shows no regularity as to the presence of fibres 
running tangentially from the central mass toward the cell 
periphery; such fibres are sometimes present, sometimes 
short or slender, and often wholly absent. I have seen no 
evidence that these or other peripheral fibres determine the 
position of the cones of the multipolar figure. The nucleole 
has disappeared, nearly or quite simultaneously with the 
disappearance of the membrane. The central fibres soon 
lose their granular appearance and cannot be distinguished 
from the outer ones ; the whole mass of fibres assumes more 
and more the appearance of a multipolar spindle. Commonly 
three or four poles, sometimes indications of one or two more, 
- appear in a section. The fibres begin to gather into bundles 
which run from the chromosomes to the poles. The cell 
