Jolivette—Spore Formation. 
1181 
29, 34 and 35 Plate 8. Perhaps as Sands suggests Fanil has 
drawn polar views oif these stages and interpreted them wrongly. 
Further in the early stages in the formation of the membrane 
the astral fibres of which it is composed can be distinctly made 
out. This same condition has been figured by Harper. 
There can he no question that the central body in all these 
stages is in contact with, or a part of the plasma membrane of 
the spore. Fault agrees that the delimitation of the spore be¬ 
gins at the center and proceeds backward. 
My figures show that the central body stays in contact with 
the plasma membrane during a comparatively long period, i. e., 
while the spore changes the direction of its axis of growth, its 
position in the ascus and its shape. The nucleus with its cen¬ 
tral body which at the time of the delimitation may he pointing 
in any direction comes to point toward the base of the ascus. 
The length of the spore is considerably increased and the end 
nearest the base of the ascus is drawn out into a blunt point. 
The spores have come to lie side by side in the ascus resembling 
in their arrangement and shape a hunch of cigars. The numer¬ 
ous stages in this process that can be found show that this con¬ 
nection between the central body and the membrane obtains for 
a proportionately long time. At the time when the nucleus 
with its central body is drawn back from the plasma membrane 
into the spore the fibres are no longer visible. That the nu¬ 
cleus with the central body has taken an extremely active part 
not only in the formation of the spore membrane but in the 
changes of the position and shape of the spore is evident from 
these figures, and all these phenomena here are in harmony with 
the theory that the membrane was formed out of the fibres. 
The plasma membrane of the ascus in Geoglossum does not 
enter into the formation of the spore membrane as can be seen 
from my figures (figs. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17). Al¬ 
though it is impossible in some cases to trace the plasma mem¬ 
brane of the ascus entirely past the spores during the formation 
of their membranes the evidence is in favor of the complete in¬ 
dependence of the two membranes. If the ascus membrane was 
broken at any point the epiplasm at that point would tend to 
