Capillitium in Certain Myxomyceles . 
15 
The more definite form which Hartog (24) has given to the much dis- 
cussed resemblance of the astral rays and karyokinetic figure to a magnetic 
field of force has received support in Lillie’s (30, 31) contention that by 
centrifuging the spindle figure may be moved in the cell without distortion 
of its elements — may in fact change its substance with the displacement of 
the fields of force without any indication of drift in the material under the 
influence of the assumed chains of force. It is, of course, not clear in this 
case just how centrifuging could influence the fields of force. The magnetic 
analogy is perhaps still to be reckoned with for the bipolar systems of the 
karyokinetic figure, but the conception of a field of force would certainly not 
be thought of in connexion with the systems of rays oriented on indepen- 
dent granules, quite irregularly placed as they are in the radial systems 
distributed along the forming capillitial thread. The nature of the fibrillar 
systems must of course be interpreted in connexion with their appearance in 
longitudinal (Fig. 2) as well as in transverse (Figs. 3 and 4) sections of the 
thread. 
Such movements of fibres as occur in the transformation of the radial 
into the felted zone stage in the pollen mother-cells of Larix as described 
by Allen (1) and others, and even such an extreme case as the folding over 
of the astral rays, described by Gregoire and Berghs (17) for Pellia , to form 
the spindle, must not, it seems to us, be regarded as inconsistent with the 
origin of the fibres as streams. The movement of the fibres like cilia and 
their growth by a flow of kinoplasm from the centre outwards are both well 
illustrated in the metamorphosis of the astral system into a spore membrane 
in the ascus. 
Index to Literature. 
1 . Allen, C. E. : The Early Stages of Spindle Formation in the Pollen Mother-cells of Larix . 
Ann. Bot., vol. xvii, March, 1903, pp. 281-312, PL XIV, XV. 
2 . Bary, A. de : Vergleichende Morphologie und Biologie der Pilze, Mycetozoen und Bacterien. 
i-xvi + 1-558 pp., Figs. 1-198. Leipzig, 1884. 
3 . Bouin, M., et Bouin, P. : Ergastoplasme et mitochondrie dans les cellules glandulaires 
s^reuses. Compt. Rend. Soc. Biol., vol. lviii, 1905, pp. 916-17. 
4 . : Sur la presence de filaments particuliers dans le protoplasme de la 
cellule-mere du sac embryonnaire des Liliacees. Bibliographie Anatomique, vol. vi, 1898, 
pp. i— 10, Figs. 1-5. 
4 a. Brach, H: Untersuchungen iiber den chemischen Aufbau des Chitins. Biochem. Zeitzschr. , 
vol. xxxiii, 1912, pp. 468-91. 
5 . Butschli, O. : UeberdiekiinstlicheNachahmungderkaryokinetischen Figur. Verh. nat.-med, 
Vereins Heidelberg, N.F., vol. v, 1893, pp. 28-41. 
6. : Untersuchungen fiber mikroskopische Schaume und das Protoplasma. i-iv + 
1-234 PP*> PI* I- VI -H Figs. 1-23. Leipzig, 1892. 
