164 Samuels.—A Pathological Anatomical Study of 
nucleus of the cyst undergoes certain changes. It may assume lobed, 
spiral, or twisted forms, as shown in PL II, Figs. 10 , 12 , 13 , 14 , and 15 , and 
Text-figs. 1 , 3 , and 4 . 
It is not unlikely that this amoeboid change of form is associated with 
chemical or physical changes in the constitution of the cell, for it is well 
known that nuclei can be stimulated by physical or chemical means 
so as to undergo pathological fusion, and this I believe is the case in 
A nthurium. 
In general the form of the nucleus has nothing to do with cell fusions ; 
nuclei of abnormal form may occur independent of the latter, and such 
abnormal nuclei have been found in many pathological cases. It is 
most probable that in the cyst nuclei of Anthurium such a pathological 
condition is to be attributed to physico-chemical causes, for, as we have seen, 
the crystallization of calcium oxalate begins in the immediate neighbourhood 
of the nucleus, which at the time is located in a dense mass of protoplasm. 
The nuclei are therefore closely associated with crystal formation. In the 
raphid-bearing cells, as ordinarily observed in many plants, the nucleus has 
not a spherical form as in the neighbouring cells, but is more or less 
elongated (PL II, Figs. 14 , 15 , and 16 ). 
In this case also we have to deal with change of form which is perhaps 
associated with some physico-chemical cause. The normal nucleus passes 
over into a pathological state. In the cyst nuclei of Anthurium the patho¬ 
logical condition is made evident by the spiral and lobed condition. It is of 
further interest that the production of calcium oxalate crystals decreases 
with the final cessation of the activity of the latter, i. e. when the contents of 
the nucleus become homogeneous and are about to dissolve. From this fact 
it is clear that there is a relation between the cyst nucleus and crystal 
formation. The relation between the form of the cells and cell growth and 
the position and function of the nucleus can be clearly determined and 
followed in the case of these crystal symplasts. It may be emphasized that 
the formation of these peculiar symplasts, whose origin is, in all probability, 
to be attributed to abnormal physico-chemical processes in the tissue, takes 
place, not in the outer parenchyma cell layers of the perianth leaves, but 
for the most part in the inner layers. In the outer layers mainly polyhedric 
crystals are formed, and neither cell association nor nuclear fusion is to be 
observed. 
The formation of crystal cysts may be observed not only in all the 
vegetative organs of Anthurium scandens and A. Sellerzerianum , but also, 
in all probability, in other species of the genus Anthurium} 
1 The occurrence of similar crystal symplasts in the parenchymatous tissue of the floral organs 
of Arisaema triphyllum, which I had the opportunity to observe in the early part of this season, 
may also be noted here. 
