Miyake, The development of the gametophytes etc. 
17 
States that in Cipptomena the upper tier or the rosette consists 
of only free nuclei, no wall being formed between them, but I 
have fonnd that in Cunningliamia the nnclei are all surrounded 
by walls at the sides, being open only at the top. 
The middle tier of cells now elongates into the suspensors 
while the lower tier or group of cells forms the embiyo (figs. 103, 
104). The cells of the young embryo may divide before the sus¬ 
pensors elongate. 
The process of the proembryo-formation in Cunningliamia 
agree, on the whole, with that of Taxodium, Cryptomeria and the 
Cupressineae , while it differs considerably from Sequoia in which 
no free nuclei are formed in the proembryo. 
There is often found, in the fertilized egg, an extra nucleus 
above the proembryonal nuclei. It is derived probablv either from 
one of the two free nuclei previously found in the pollen-tube or 
from the ventral canal-nucleus (figs. 95, 99, 101). In one pre- 
paration, I have found it in division. The division-figure, however, 
seemed to be more or less abnormal (fig. 93). Such abnormal or 
abortive kaiyokinetic figures are not uncommon in the fertilized 
egg of the Abietineae (Ferguson, 1901, 1904; Miyake, 1903). 
Systematic Position of Cunningliamia. 
The present study shows that the gametophytes and embryo- 
geny of Cunningliamia show a close affinity with Taxodium and 
Cryptomeria , and are distinctly of the Cupressineae type. So far 
as the embryological evidences go, I can only confirm the Suggestion 
of Arnoldi that these three genera should better be removed from 
the Taxodieae and placed with the Cupressineae. A new sub-group 
the Taxodinae , may perhaps be established in the Cupressineae , to 
receive these new comers. 
According to Arnoldi (1900) the archegonia of Cryptomeria, 
Taxodium and Cunningliamia are not always arranged in a compact 
complex as in the Cupressineae , but the} 7 are rather loosely ar¬ 
ranged, having often some sterile prothallial cells inserted between 
themselves, and with less distinct sheath-layer. He, therefore, 
proposes to put these genera in the Cupressineae , as the more 
primitive member of the group*). The presence of a sterile 
x ) "Die bis jetzt mehr oder weniger entwicklungsgeschichtlich bekannten 
Gattungen der Cupressineen sind Juniperus, Thuja, Biota , Cupressus und 
Callitris. Bei allen diesen Pflanzen bilden die Archegonien scharf aus¬ 
gesprochene Complexe, welche mit einer auch scharf ausgesprochenen 
Deckschicht umgeben sind, während das für Cryptomeria, Taxodium und 
Cunningliamia nicht immer der Fall ist, hier, wie es gezeigt worden ist, 
kommen sehr oft unvollständige Complexe vor, indem die Archegonien locker 
verbunden werden und zwischen ihnen auch Endospermschichten sich befinden, 
es wird auch die Deckschicht nicht immer scharf gebildet, indem ihre Zellen 
nicht viel von denen des Endosperms abweichen. Das gibt uns aber Recht, 
solche Archegoniencomplexe nur als älteren noch nicht fixierten Typus zu be¬ 
zeichnen, welcher später bei etwas weiter in der Entwicklung fortgeschrittener 
Gruppe zu vollkommener Ausbildung gekommen ist. Wir können also diese 
drei Gattungen in die Familie der Cupressineen stellen und zwar sie als ältere 
Formen derselben bezeichnen.” (Arnoldi, 1900, p. 23.) 
Beihefte Bot. Centralbl. Bd. XXVII. Abt. I. Heft 1. 
2 
