590 
Saxton. — Contributions to the 
Shortly before the ventral canal nucleus is cut off, the bodies appear 
which are referred to by Nichols (36) in Juniper us as asteroids, and by 
Noren (37) in the same genus as ‘ Strahlungszentren These structures 
bear some resemblance to blepharoplasts, and it is not without interest to 
find such bodies occurring just prior to the division which gives rise to the 
egg in Conifers, although no trace of a blepharoplast has ever been demon- 
strated in the division to form male cells in any Conifer. The asteroids 
seem of general occurrence amongst Cupressoi'deae, having been reported 
by Land (24) in Thuja and by Coker (9) in Taxodium , as well as in 
Juniper us, as mentioned above. They were seen by Noren (37) in Tetra- 
clinis also. In archegonia which are not fertilized the asteroids become 
both more conspicuous and more numerous, but they have not been 
noticed after fertilization has been effected. They may be seen in some of 
the archegonia of Fig. 65. 
The last change in the archegonium before fertilization is the cutting 
off of a ventral canal nucleus (Figs. 43 and 44). The fate of this 
nucleus seems to vary; in some cases no trace of it can be found at 
a somewhat later stage, while in others it may easily be seen associated 
with proembryos of various ages. 
The number of archegonia in a prothallus is usually nine or ten in 
my material (Fig. 65), but higher numbers are sometimes met with; 
Strasburger (52) gives the number as fifteen or more, so that the number 
probably varies somewhat widely. Since my material was all collected 
from a single tree, it is not improbable that the number of archegonia in 
a prothallus may have been below the average. 
One of the most interesting features of the female gatnetophyte is the 
somewhat rare occurrence of lateral groups of archegonia. These are men- 
tioned by Juel (21) and Noren (37) as an occasional abnormality in the 
genus. In a literal sense it is certain that such lateral groups are abnormal 
for this plant, but in the sense in which ‘abnormal’ is generally used, as 
indicating something of the nature of a freak, it does not seem clear that 
a phenomenon which is thus known to occur with some regularity in a pro- 
portion (though only a small proportion) of cases should be looked upon as 
entirely ‘ abnormal ’ — at least, it must be regarded as a factor which cannot 
be overlooked in considering the phylogenetic relationships of the plant in 
which it occurs. Of those prothalli sectioned by me, about 130 were of an 
age sufficient to show the archegonia ; of these, three (from separate cones 
collected on three different dates) had lateral archegonia. Of these three, 
one (Text-fig. 2) shows a perfectly normal group of archegonia at the apex, 
and, in addition, a similar group of ten archegonia placed laterally a short 
distance below the apex. The second (Text-fig. 3) has no archegonia at, or 
anywhere near, the apex. There are two lateral groups, one about half-way 
down the prothallus, consisting of six archegonia, and another about two- 
