452 
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 
[Vol. io, 
chromatin bodies by their faint staining reaction and their irregularity of 
outline. 
Attached to the nucleolus is usually one, rarely two, bud-like structures 
which take the safranin stain like the nucleolus; sometimes they are found 
disconnected from the nucleolus. They vary somewhat in size but are 
usually somewhat larger than the chromatin bodies, from which they are 
further distinguished because of their reaction to stains and because of their 
more globular shape (fig. 2). 
The first evidence of growth on the part of the mother cell is an increase 
in size of the nucleus as well as of the entire ceil. The linin stains more 
readily, and many of the chromatin bodies are more conspicuously arranged 
in pairs. At no stage could I be sure that the individuals of a pair are 
connected by linin. The cytoplasm becomes somewhat less dense as the 
cell enlarges, but the changes are so slight that one would not be justified 
in using them as criteria for determining the stages of development of the 
nucleus as did Cardiff in his study of this species. 
The next apparent change is a more conspicuous linin which becomes 
pulled away from the periphery of the nucleus in several places and collected 
to form the synaptic knot (fig. 4); usually, even at the most contracted 
phase of synapsis, there are a few free threads extending outside of the knot, 
some of which reach to the nuclear membrane (fig. 5). There is no con¬ 
spicuous paralleling of the threads during the pre-synaptic stages nor in 
synapsis; only occasionally will two threads be seen parallel to each other. 
The chromatin bodies remain distinct throughout the early stages of 
synapsis; as the linin becomes more contracted into a knot, the individuals 
of a pair come closer together until they are in contact with each other. 
Throughout these stages there are always some chromatin bodies lying 
against the nucleolus, and frequently a group of four will be found rather 
close together. 
At about the period of maximum contraction of the linin the chromatin 
bodies appear to lengthen out; the individual members of a pair seem to 
flow out in opposite directions, indicating an end-to-end union of the two; 
in this manner short, thick threads are formed which take the chromatin 
stain (figs. 7-9). In a single nucleus some of the chromatin material may 
be seen as definite paired bodies, while some appears as short, thick threads 
which fade into the less deeply stained linin. In a few cases one or more 
chromatin threads were found outside of the knot with only one end entering 
it; upon these threads were darker-stained portions indicating the position 
of the pair of chromatin bodies. No evidence was found to indicate that 
two fine parallel threads unite to form a single large one. 
The synaptic knot becomes more and more converted into thick threads 
by the flowing out of the chromatin material until there appear to be 
several of these thick threads, more or less massed, with some free ends 
extending out from the knot (fig. 11). It is possible that these threads are 
