5^4 
Saxton . — Contributions to the 
This provides a reliable means of distinguishing nuclei just beginning to 
contract from those recovering from synapsis, and makes it impossible to 
confuse pre-synaptic with post-synaptic phases, (iii) In addition to the two 
points noted above there is a progressive increase in starch content through- 
out the prophases of the heterotypic division. In the figures no attempt 
has been made to show with absolute accuracy the position of every starch 
grain in the section figured, but a few grains have been accurately drawn in 
with the camera lucida in each case, and, the distribution being very uniform, 
the rest added free-hand. 
Careful search was made, both before and after synapsis, for any indica- 
tion of such a e pairing of the spiremes ’ as is claimed by Overton (88) for 
various Angiosperms, and by Nichols (36) for Juniperus , but no trace of 
such a thing was seen. Nor was any distinct evidence forthcoming for the 
longitudinal splitting of the post-synaptic spireme which appears certainly to 
occur in many plants, especially Monocotyledons (Farmer and Moore (16), 
Mottier (33, 34), &c.), and has been described by Lewis (29) in Pinns and 
Thuja . Miss Ferguson (17) gives a somewhat different explanation of the 
phenomena in Pinus , maintaining that the splitting, which she also describes 
in the spireme stage, culminates in the longitudinal splitting of the chromo- 
somes in the first (heterotype) division ; the other authors quoted believe that 
it does not reappear until the splitting of the chromosomes which they 
describe in the second (homotype) division. 
Repeated search was made in Tetraclinis for any signs of transient 
splitting in the prophases of the heterotype division, and the only stage 
which could possibly be interpreted as such was that shown in Fig. 8, while 
even here it seems far more likely that the appearance is caused by the 
close approximation of the sides of a number of loops. 
There does not seem to be any especial reason why splitting should 
occur at this time, only to disappear again later, and to the writer it seems 
reasonable to suppose that the differences reported in this respect may be 
due to real differences between one plant and another, and not, as is often 
thought, to differences in methods of investigation. 
Repeated counts of chromosomes, chiefly in polar views of telophases 
of the homotype division, gave twelve or thirteen as the x number of 
chromosomes. Less conclusive evidence was obtained as to the 2 x 
number, owing to the difficulty of counting the larger number of chromo- 
somes in nuclei as small as those of Tetraclinis , but the few counts which 
were made indicated twenty-four as the probable figure. The case shown 
in Fig. 13 is difficult to interpret ; it is a very clear polar view, showing the 
ends of the chromosomes passing to the poles at the heterotype division. 
Thirty-two of these ends can be counted quite clearly ; if the chromosomes 
are all V-shaped this would correspond to sixteen whole chromosomes; 
comparison with Fig. 11, however, suggests a quite possible explanation, 
