Podocarpus spinulosus , {Smith) R. Br. 309 
Jeffrey and Chrysler (9) found that in two other species, P. fernigineiis 
and P. dacrydioides , there were as many as eight prothallial cells present, 
and that the generative cell also had divided. They and Miss Young (31) 
also record several prothallial cells in species of Dacrydium. Jeffrey and 
Chrysler incline to the view that these divisions of the prothallial cells and 
the generative cell cannot be regarded as a primitive feature. Burlingame (4) 
reports the occurrence of a similar group of prothallial cells in P. totarra 
Hallii. Noren (10) records a similar complex of prothallial cells in 
Saxegothaea , and Thomson (23) describes the occurrence of the same in 
Microcachrys. The latter (21) has also found that in Agathis as many as 
thirty to forty prothallial cells may be present. 
It was thought advisable to compare the structure of the male 
gametophyte of P. spinulosus with that of other species of Podocarpus 
previously described. Microtome sections of male cones were cut whose 
microsporangia had not dehisced, and were stained with Heidenhain’s Iron 
Alum Haematoxylin with a background stain of Orange G. It will be 
seen on examination of PI. XXI, Figs. 3 - 8 , that the contents of the pollen- 
grains are almost exactly the same as those figured by Jeffrey and Chrysler 
for P. ferrugineus and P. dacrydioides. In Figs. 3 and 4 both prothallial 
cells have divided in a plane at right angles to that of the section, but in 
Figs. 5 and 6 divisions in the first and second prothallial cells respectively 
have not occurred in this plane. From an examination of Fig. 7 , which 
is a section of a pollen-grain cut tangentially at its prothallial end, it is 
apparent that there may be another plane of division of the prothallial cells 
at right angles to that indicated in Figs. 3 and 4 , &c. Thus as many as 
eight prothallial cells may be present. The generative cell is generally 
conspicuous with its aggregation of protoplasm around the central nucleus. 
It is evident from Fig. 5 that the generative cell sometimes divides 
before the liberation of the pollen in a manner which is probably the 
same as that described for the first time by Jeffrey and Chrysler (9) as 
occurring in the pollen of P. ferrugineus and P. dacrydioides. The tube- 
nucleus is the largest nucleus present in the pollen-grain. All the nuclei 
of our material were in the resting condition, as indicated by the large 
nucleolus and absence of a reticulum. After a time the walls of the 
prothallial cells break down, and the nuclei come to lie free in the 
cytoplasm, as will be seen on examination of Fig. 8 . Jeffrey and Chrysler 
record a similar phenomenon in P. polystachyus. 
It is apparent then from this examination of P. spinulosus , and from 
the resume of work done on other species given above, that the multi¬ 
cellular condition of the male gametophyte of Podocarpus must be con¬ 
sidered a characteristic of the genus, especially as the species investigated 
come from widely different regions (New Zealand, Australia, Cuba, Java). 
The fact that a similar condition of the male gametophyte exists in 
