Baird—History of Phycomyces Nitens (Agardh) Kunze. 359 
Swingle (1903) in a report of spore formation of Phycomyces 
and Ehizopus describes the nuclei in the sporange of either form 
as in a resting condition. In either form each nucleus is ap¬ 
proximately spherical in shape, and consists of one or two nucleoli, 
a finely granular chromatin, and a surrounding membrane. In the 
columella of Ehizopus he describes the nuclei as disintegrating. 
According to him the process of disintegration consists of the ap¬ 
pearance of a red-stained mass on one side of the nucleus, followed 
by the nucleus taking on the appearance of a shrunken homogene¬ 
ous mass often irregular in shape and staining much as do the 
crystalloids of the protoplasm. In Phycomyces the structure of 
the nucleus is similar except that it may have as many as three 
nucleoli, and in this form he has described the disintegration of 
the nuclei in the mycelium as in the columella of Ehizopus. 
Gruber (1901) in a description of nuclear behavior in zygospore 
production of Sporodinia grandis agrees with Leger up to the 
point at which the protoplasm of the two gametes become mixed. 
From this point on he does not find nuclei of two sizes, nor fusions 
taking place between paired nuclei, nor evidence that nuclei are 
disintegrating, but rather that the nuclei are clearly in evidence 
after fourteen days of development of the zygospore. After five 
or six weeks and again at the end of six months he still finds nuclei 
in the same condition as when the zygospore was formed. 
In a later paper, reporting on the sexual process of Zygorhyn- 
chus Moelleri, Gruber (1912) describes nuclear fusions as occur¬ 
ring between the nuclei of the male gamete and an equal number 
of those of the female gamete. 
Dangeard (1903) describes the nuclear structure and behavior 
in a species of Mucor and in Sporodinia. In either of these forms 
a nucleus of the gametes consists of a small nucleole and a homo¬ 
geneous achromatic nucleoplasm. After the fusion of the gametes 
the nuclei divide one or more times, then nuclear fusions occur. 
A daughter nucleus, thus arising in the zygospore, consists of a 
nucleole, a network of granular chromatin, and a nuclear mem¬ 
brane. In the process of nuclear fusion, the membranes fuse at 
the point of contact. At first the two nucleoles rest within the 
membrane thus formed and then fuse. Some of the nuclei do not 
fuse but disintegrate. In rather mature zygospores, this author 
finds large deep-staining bodies throughout the protoplasm, which 
he suggests have arisen from mucorine crystals. 
