284 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
alveolation in the earlier stages. Gregoire (’06) has criticized 
Miss Merriman’s (’04) interpretations, which do not need further 
discussion at this point. Suffice it to say that I have not found 
the quadripartite granules described by her for Allium in the 
telophasic chromosomes of Podophyllum, nor do I find any indi¬ 
cation of a longitudinal splitting of these chromosomes at this 
time or at any earlier stage on the spindle as has been claimed by 
some observers. As pointed out by Sharp (’13), the fact that 
vacuoles may occur in almost every conceivable position in these 
chromosomes is of great importance as it bears upon the question 
of the splitting of the chromosomes, which is held by many to 
occur during the telophases. 
Lundegard (’09) observed a median vacuolation of the chromo¬ 
somes of Trollius, which he did not at that time describe as a 
longitudinal split, but in 1910 he often observed in Vicia and Al¬ 
lium what he regards as a true longitudinal split in the telophasic 
chromosomes, both in fixed and in living material. He failed to 
observe the spiral structure described by Bonnevie, but describes 
the chromosomes as fragmenting and joining to form karyosomes. 
More recently Lundegard (’12c) emphasizes the double nature of 
the telophasic chromosomes. Nemec (’10) states that the telo¬ 
phasic chromosomes of Allium undergo a vacuolation without a 
true splitting. Fraser and Snell (’ll) believe that they have 
found that the telophasic chromosomes of Vicia undergo a true 
longitudinal splitting by means of median vacuolation. The 
chromosomes are described as being connected by anastomoses, 
and these authors believe that, as the nucleus enlarges, the two 
halves of the telophasic chromosomes are drawn apart along the 
line of vacuoles. Digby (’19) holds that in all of the arches- 
porial divisions in Osmunda the chromosomes undergo a longi¬ 
tudinal splitting in varying degree during the early telophases, 
which split in agreement with Fraser and Snell is held to persist 
throughout the resting stages until it is completed on the spindle 
of the following division. 
In my studies on Podophyllum I have been unable to observe 
any of the above described phenomena, which in any way re¬ 
semble in the slightest degree a telophasic longitudinal splitting 
of the chromosomes. Thus far in the consideration of the chromo¬ 
somes of Podophyllum I have been able to identify each chromo¬ 
some, which persists as an autonomous element although under¬ 
going a series of internal changes. Some authors maintain that 
