The Development of the Pollen-tube and the 
Division of the Generative Nucleus in 
certain Species of Pines. 
BY 
MARGARET C. FERGUSON 1 . 
With Plates XII, XIII, and XIV. 
Introductory. 
T HERE is perhaps no phase of botanical science to which 
greater interest attaches at the present day than that 
which is concerned with the problems of sexual reproduction. 
The early botanists found in this question merely a favourite 
subject for philosophical speculation. Although Amici (’30- 
’46) made certain interesting observations regarding the 
development of the pollen-tube and the origin of the embryo 
in several plants, yet Hofmeister (’46-62), whose works have 
already become classic, will ever be recognized as the first 
true scientific investigator along the line of sexual reproduction 
in plants. Since his studies, many botanists have found in 
this subject an attractive field for investigation. The cele- 
brated discoveries of Ikeno, Hirase, and Webber, in 1897, gave 
a new incentive to this study, particularly in connexion with 
1 Read before the Botanical Society of America at its sixth annual meeting in 
New York City, June 28, 1900. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XV. No. LVIII. June, 1901.] 
O 
