736 
Note. 
During and after the division there is no differentiation of the protoplasm within 
and without the sphere of nuclei into oospheric and periplasmic regions respectively. 
As soon as the daughter nuclei are reformed ail but one in the centre wander out 
towards the periphery, beginning to disintegrate rapidly at the same time ; and 
simultaneously practically the whole of the protoplasm contracts away from the 
oogonium wall and forms the uninucleate oosphere. The remaining nuclei, now 
scarcely recognizable as such, lie just outside the oospheze, scattered over its periphery. 
Between them and the oogonium wall is an empty space. The nucleus of the 
oosphere is still small and stains very faintly. It lies in the centre in an irregular 
mass of cytoplasm which stains somewhat deeply with orange G. 
The nuclei of the antheridium divide once, but whether this is preceded by 
a disintegration of a portion of them is not certain. A very large outgrowth pushes 
its way from the upper part of the stalk of the oogonium into the antheridium (the 
so-called * receptive papilla ’). At about the period when mitosis is complete this has 
been entirely withdrawn, and a movement in the opposite direction begins, the 
fertilization tube, with a nucleus at the tip, growing into the oogonium. The tube 
may pursue a somewhat devious course before penetrating the oosphere, and it may 
contain more than one nucleus. Only one, however, passes into the oosphere, which 
then ejects the tube and surrounds itself with a wall. The sexual nuclei, having 
increased enormously in size, appear to come together at first and then separate 
widely. When the spore wall is mature they approach again and fuse. 
The further stages have not been followed. The spore appears to rest in 
a uninucleate condition, and the behaviour on germination is not yet known. 
PAUL A. MURPHY. 
Kaiserliche Bioi.ogische Anstalt, &c., 
Dahlem, Berlin. 
