548 
Gibbs. — -On the Development of the 
below them is the plug of the crushed axial tissue. The prothallial cells 
are packed with starch (Fig. 39, st.) which thins off towards the periphery, 
and where embryo digestion is in progress. 
As many as eight nuclei may occur in the cells, which show up clearly in 
iron-alum and haematoxylin, counterstained with Congo-red (Fig. 39 a , nuc.) 
In the Podocarps, in the endosperm tissue, all the nuclei seem to 
remain active, and their division suggests a correlation with the demands 
of starch formation, as this division is initiated at the beginning of the 
latter after fertilization and keeps pace with its demands. 
P. bracteata. 
P. bracteata , like the last species, was only seen in the Botanic Gardens 
of Buitenzorg. There it was a large tree, with very long narrow leaves. 
The leaves in this species are verticillately arranged and very large, about 
four inches long and three-quarters of an inch broad, markedly dark green 
in colour. Pilger ( 40 , p. 80) has sunk P. bracteata , Bl., in P. neriifolia, 
Don, but as the plant was labelled by the former name, that designation is 
naturally adhered to. Only mature cones were collected. 
The strobili occur singly in the axils of the foliage leaves on very 
short peduncles, the bract bases being much swollen, full size, and of 
a dull purple colour, with all trace of individual parts entirely lost (Fig. 44, 
br. bsi). The mature seed-coat is thick and resisting ; lignification takes 
place in the cells of the integument, and involves the adjacent tissues of the 
ovuliferous scale as well. 
Histology. The youngest prothallus in longitudinal section shows the 
hypocotyl with root-cap of the embryo nearly reaching to the apex (Fig. 45, 
hyp. and rt. cap), where it is capped by the crushed remains of the proembryos 
and suspensors (Fig. 45, crushed susi). Empty tissue surrounds the embryo, 
with a plug of the crushed cells of the central cylinder at the base (Fig. 45, 
cen. cyli). In the embryo the outside walls of the epidermis are thick- 
ened, and two small roundish cotyledons show at the base, succeeded by 
the hypocotyl, in which the plerome cylinder is outlined by resin canals 
(Fig. 45, r. c.), and these occur also in the cotyledons, cortex, and root-cap. 
The root apex is well differentiated (Fig. 45, rt. cap). 
In the fully developed embryo (Fig. 46, emb.) the root-cap projects out 
beyond the prothallus (Fig. 46, rt. cap), breaking through the opening left by 
the archegonial cavity, and pressing aside the remains of the crushed 
suspensor tubes (Fig. 46, crushed sus.). 
The limiting layers of the prothallus show crushing all round the 
embryo, while the basal plug is still in evidence (Fig. 46, cen . cyli) . The 
rest of the prothallial tissue has undergone little diminution in area and 
is packed with starch (Fig. 46, st.). This fact suggests that the embryo, in 
the oldest stage available material shows, has not yet reached its full 
development on the parent plant, though it is unusually well organized, in 
