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organs: observed (Christman) in certain Uredineae (Caeoma nitens, Phragmidium speciosum, Uromyces Caladii) where adjacent archicarps fuse: male cells (spermatia) are See also:

PRESENT

present but functionless. (b) Fusion between nuclei of the same female See also:

ORGAN

organ: observed in the ascogonium of certain Ascomycetes, Humaria granulata (Blackman), where there is no male organ; Lachnea stercorea (See also:

Fraser), where the male organ (pollinodium) is present but is apparently functionless. (c) Fusion of a female organ with an adjacent See also:

TISSUE (Fr. tissu, tissue, participle of tisser, Lat. texere, to weave)

tissue-See also:

CELL (from Lat. cella, probably from an Indo-European kal —seen in Lat. celare, to hide; another suggestion connects the word with Lat. cera, wax, taking the original meaning to refer to the honeycomb)

cell: observed (Blackman) in the archicarp of some Uredineae (Phragmidium violaceum, Uromyces Poae, Puccinia Poarum) : male cells (spermatia) present but functionless. There is no-female organ: fusion takes See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place between two adjacent tissue-cells of the gametophyte; the sporophyte is See also:

DEVELOPED

developed from diploid cells thus produced, but there is no proper zygote as there is in a, b and c: observed (See also:

FARMER, RICHARD (1735–1787)

Farmer) in the prothallium of certain ferns (Lastraea pseudo-mas, See also:

var. polydactyla) : male organs (and sometimes female) present but functionless. Another such See also:

case is that of Humaria rutilans (Ascomycete), in which nuclear fusion has been observed (Fraser) in hyphae of the hypothecium : the See also:

ASCI

asci are developed from these hyphae, and in them meiosis takes place; there are no sexual organs. 2. Eu-apogamy: no See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind of sexual act (a) The gametophyte is haploid: (a) The sporophyte is developed from the unfertilized oosphere: no such case of true parthenogenesis has yet been observed. (~) The sporophyte is developed vegetatively from the gameto- phyte and is haploid : observed in the prothallia of certain ferns, Lastraea pseudo-mas, var. cristata-apospora(Farmer and See also:

Digby), and Nephrodium molle (Yamanouchi). (b) The gametophyte is diploid (see under Apospory) : (a) The sporophyte is developed from the diploid oosphere: observed in some See also:

PTERIDOPHYTA (Gr. 1ripts, fern, and d,vrde plant)

Pteridophyta, viz. certain , ferns (Farmer), Athyrium Filix-foemina, var. clarissima, Scolopendrium vulgare, var. crispum-Drummondae, and Marsilia (Strasburger) ; also in some Phanerogams, viz. See also:

COMPOSITAE

Compositae (See also:

TARAXACUM

Taraxacum, Murbeck; Antennaria alpina, See also:

Juel; sp. of Hieracium (Rosenberg): See also:

ROSACEAE

Rosaceae (Eu-Alchemilla sp., Murbeck, Strasburger) : See also:

RANUNCULACEAE

Ranunculaceae (Thalictrum purpurascens, Overton). The sporophyte is developed vegetatively from the gametophyte: observed (Farmer) in the See also:

FERN (from O. Eng. fearn, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dutch varen, and Ger. Farn; the Indo-European root, seen in the Sanskrit parna, a feather, shows the primary meaning; cf. Gr. rmep6 , feather, rTepis, fern)

fern Athyrium Filixfoemina, var. clarissima.

In all the cases enumerated under Eu-apogamy, apogamy is associated with some See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form of apospory except Nephrodium molle, full details of which have not yet been published. Many other ferns are known to be apogamous, but they are not included here because the details of their nuclear structure have not been investigated. APOsroRY.—The known modes of apospory may be arranged as follows: 1. Pseudapospory: a spore is formed but without meiosis, so that it is diploid—observed only in heterosporous See also:

PLANTS

plants, viz, certain See also:

SPECIES

species of Marsilia (e.g. Marsilia Drummondii) where the megaspore has a diploid See also:

NUCLEUS (Lat. for the kernal of a nut, nux, the stone of fruit)

nucleus (32 chromosomes) and the resulting prothallium and female organs are also diploid (Strasburger) ; and in various Phanerogams, some Compositae (Taraxacum and Antennaria alpina, Juel), some Rosaceae (Eu-Alchemilla, Strasburger), and occasionally in Thalictrum purpurascens (Overton), where the megaspore (embryo-See also:

sac) is diploid; in some species of Hieracium it has been found (Rosenberg) that See also:

ADVENTITIOUS (from Lat. adventicius, coming from abroad)

adventitious diploid embryo-sacs are developed in the nucellus: these plants are also apogamous. 2. Eu-apospory: no spore is formed—of this there are two varieties : (a) With meiosis: this occurs in some Thallophyta which form no spores; the sporophyte of the Fucaceae bears no spores, consequently meiosis takes place in the developing sexual organs; the Conjugate See also:

Green See also:

ALGAE

Algae also have no spores, meiosis taking place in the germinating zygospore which develops directly into the sexual plant. (b) Without meiosis: the ametophyte is developed upon the sporophyte by budding; that is, spore-See also:

REPRODUCTION

reproduction is replaced by a vegetative See also:

PROCESS

process: for instance, in mosses it has been found possible to induce the development of protonema, the first See also:

STAGE (Fr. 6/age; from Lat. stare, to stand)

stage of the gametophyte, from tissue-cells of the sporogonium: similarly, in certain ferns (varieties of Athyrium Filix-foemina, Scolopendrium vulgare, Lastraea pseudo-mas, Polystichum angulare, and in the species Pteris aquiline and Asplenium dimorphum), the gametophyte (prothallium) is developed by budding on the See also:

LEAF (O. Eng. leaf, cf. Dutch loof, Ger. Laub, Swed. lof, &c.; possibly to be referred to the root seen in Gr. Ma-eta, to peel, strip)

leaf of the sporophyte, and in some of these cases it has been ascertained that the gametophyte so developed has the same number (2x) of chromosomes in its nuclei as the sporophyte that bears it—that is, it is diploid. Apospory has been found to be frequently associated with apogamy; in fact, in the See also:

ABSENCE (Lat. absentia)

absence of meiosis, this association would appear to be inevitable. Combined Apospory and A pogamy.—Instances have been given of the occurrence of both apospory and apogamy in the same See also:

LIFE

life-See also:

HISTORY

history; but in all of them there is a See also:

REGULAR

regular See also:

SUCCESSION (Lat. successio, from succedere, to follow after)

succession of sporophyte and gametophyte. The cases now to be considered are those in which one or other of the generations gives rise directly to its like, sporophyte to sporophyte, gametophyte to gametophyte, the normally intervening See also:

GENERATION (from Lat. generare, to beget, procreate; genus, stock, race)

generation being omitted. It is possible to conceive of this See also:

ABBREVIATION (Lat. brevis, short)

abbreviation of the life-history taking place in various ways.

Thus, a sporophyte might be developed from a haploid spore instead of a gametophyte as is the normal case, but thin has not been observed: again, a sporophyte might be developed from a diploid spore (as distinguished from a zygote or a diploid oosphere), a possibility that is to some extent realized in the life-history of some Uredineae in which successive forms of the polymorphic sporophyte are developed from diplogonidia. Similarly a gametophyte might be developed from a fertilized or an unfertilized (d) (R) PLANTS] female cell: the latter possibility is to some extent realized in those Algae (e.g. Ulothrix, Ectocar pus) in which the sexual cells (isogametes), if they fail to conjugate, germinate independently as gonidia, giving rise to gametophytes. The more See also:

FAMILIAR (through the Fr. familier, from Lat. familiaris, of or belonging to the familia, family)

familiar mode is that of vegetative budding, as already mentioned. When a " viviparous " fern or Phanerogam reproduces itself by a bud or a bulbil, both spore-formation and the sexual act are passed over: sporophyte springs from sporophyte. Remarkable cases of this have been observed in certain Phanerogams (Coelebogyne ilicifolia, See also:

FUNKIA

Funkia ovata, Nothoscordum fragrans, Citrus, sp. of See also:

EUONYMUS

Euonymus, See also:

OPUNTIA

Opuntia vulgaris) in the ovule of which adventitious embryos are formed by budding from cells of the nucellus: with the exception of Coelebogyne, it appears that this only takes place after the oosphere has been fertilized. In other plants it is the gametophyte that reproduces itself by means of gemmae or bulbils, as commonly in the See also:

BRYOPHYTA

Bryophyta, the prothallia of ferns, &c. The abnormalities described are all traceable to reproductive degeneration; the final result of which is that true reproduction is replaced more or less completely by vegetative See also:

PROPAGATION

propagation. It may be inquired whether degeneration may have proceeded so far in any plant of sufficiently high organization to present spore-formation, or sexual reproduction, or both, as to cause the plant to reproduce itself entirely and exclusively by the vegetative method. The only such case that suggests itself is that of Caulerpa and possibly some other Siphonaceous Green Algae. In this plant no See also:

SPECIAL

special reproductive organs have yet been discovered, and it certainly reproduces itself by the breaking off of portions of the See also:

BODY

body which become See also:

COMPLETE

complete plants: but it is quite possible that reproductive organs may yet be discovered. V.

See also:

PHYSIOLOGY (from Gr. 4 i s, nature, and koyos, discourse)

Physiology of Reproduction. The reproductive capacity of plants, as of animals, depends upon the fact that the whole or See also:

PART

part of the See also:

PROTOPLASM

protoplasm of the individual can develop into one or more new organisms in one or other of several possible ways. Thus, in the case of unicellular plants, the whole of the protoplasm of the See also:

PARENT, SIMON NAPOLEON (1855– )

parent gives rise, whether by See also:

SIMPLE

simple See also:

DIVISION (from Lat. dividere, to break up into parts, separate)

division or otherwise, to one or more new plants. Reproduction necessarily closes the life of the individual: here, as See also:

AUGUST (originally Sextilis)

August See also:

WEISMANN, AUGUST (1834– )

Weismann See also:

long ago pointed out, there is no natural See also:

DEATH

death, for the whole of the protoplasm of the parent continues to live in the progeny. In multicellular plants, on the contrary, the reproductive See also:

FUNCTION

function is mainly discharged by certain parts of the body, the reproductive organs, the See also:

REMAINDER, REVERSION

remainder of the body being essentially vegetative—that is, concerned with the See also:

MAINTENANCE (Fr. maintenance, from maintenir, to maintain, support, Lat. manu tenere, to hold in the hand)

maintenance of the individual. In these plants it is only a part of the protoplasm that continues to live in their progeny; the remainder, the vegetative part, eventually See also:

DIES, CHRISTOPH ALBERT (1755-1822)

dies. It is therefore possible to distinguish in them, on the one See also:

hand, the essentially reproductive protoplasm, which may be designated by Weismann's See also:

TERM

term germ-plasm, though without necessarily adopting all that his use of it implies, and the essentially vegetative, mortal protoplasm, the somatoplasm, on the other. In the unicellular plant no such distinction can be See also:

DRAWN

drawn, for the whole of the protoplasm is concerned in reproduction. But even in the most highly organized multicellular plant this distinction is not See also:

ABSOLUTE (Lat. absolvere, to loose, set free)

absolute: for, as already explained, plants can, in See also:

general, be propagated by the See also:

ISOLATION

isolation of almost any part of the body, that is vegetatively, and this implies the presence of germ-plasm elsewhere than in the special reproductive organs. If the See also:

ATTEMPT (Lat. adtemptare, attentare, to try)

attempt be made to distinguish between the organs of vegetative propagation and those of true reproduction, the nearest approach would be the statement that the former contain both germ-plasm and somatoplasm, whereas the latter, or at least the reproductive cells, consist entirely of germ-plasm. The question now arises as to the exact seat of the germ-plasm, and the See also:

ANSWER (derived from and, against, and the same root as swear)

answer is to be looked for in the results of the numerous researches into the structure and development of the reproductive cells that form so large a part of the biological See also:

WORK

work of See also:

RECENT

recent years. The various facts already mentioned suffice to prove127 that the nucleus plays the leading part in the reproductive processes of whatever kind: the general conclusion is justified that no reproductive cell can develop into a new organism if deprived of its nucleus.

It may be inferred that the nucleus either actually contains the germ-plasm, or that it controls and directs the activities of the germ-plasm present in the cell. It is not improbable that both these inferences may be true. At any See also:

RATE

rate there is no sufficient ground for excluding the co-operation of the cytoplasm, especially of that part of it distinguished as kinoplasm, in the reproductive processes. Pursuing the ascertained facts with regard to the nucleus, it is established that the part of it especially concerned is the limn-network which consists of the chromosomes. The behaviour, as already described, of the chromosomes in the various reproductive processes has led to the conclusion that the hereditary characters of the parent or parents are transmitted in and by them to the progeny: that they constitute, in fact, the material basis of See also:

HEREDITY

heredity (see FIEREDITY). They can hardly, however, be regarded as the ultimate structural See also:

units, for the simple See also:

REASON (Lat. ratio, through French raison)

reason that their number is far too small in relation to the transmissible characters. It has been suggested (Farmer) that the chromomeres are the units, but the number of these would seem to be hardly sufficient. It seems necessary to fall back upon hypothetical ultimate particles, as suggested by See also:

Darwin, de Vries and Weismann, which may be generally termed pangens. The chromomeres may be regarded as aggregates of such particles, the " ids " of Weismann. The foregoing considerations make it possible to attempt an explanation of the various reproductive processes. Vegetative Propagation.—It is easily intelligible that the two individuals produced by the division of a unicellular plant should resemble the parent and each other; for, the division of the parent-nucleus being homotypic, the chromosomes which go to constitute the nucleus of each daughter-cell are alike both in number and in nature, and exactly repeat the constitution of the parent-nucleus. In the more complicated cases of propagation by bulbils, cuttings, &c., the development of the new individual, or of the missing parts of the individual (roots, &c.), may be ascribed to the presence in the bulbil or cutting of the necessary pangens.

Reproduction by Gonidia.—In this case a single cell gives rise to a complete new organism resembling the parent. The inference is that the gonidium is a portion of the parental germ-plasm, in which all the necessary pangens have been accumulated. Reproduction by Spores.—In this case, also, an entire organism is developed from a single cell, but with this peculiarity that the resulting organism is unlike that which See also:

BORE

bore the spore, a peculiarity which has not yet been explained. It has been already stated that the development of true spores involves meiosis, and this process is no doubt related to the behaviour of the spore on germination; but the nature of this relation remains obscure. It might be assumed that, as the result of meiosis, the nucleus of the spore receives only gametophytic pangens. But the See also:

ASSUMPTION, FEAST OF

assumption is rendered impossible by the fact that the spore gives rise to a sexual organism, the reproductive cells of which, after the sexual act, produce a sporophyte. Clearly sporophytic pangens must be present as well in the spore as in the gametophyte and in its sexual cells. It can only be surmised that they exist there in a latent See also:

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition, dominated, as it were, by the gametophytic pangens. Sexual Reproduction.—Here, again, as yet unanswered questions present themselves. The essence of a sexual cell is that it cannot give rise by itself to a new organism, it is only truly reproductive after the sexual act: this peculiarity is just what constitutes its sexuality. See also:

Minute investigation has not yet detected any essential structural difference between a sexual cell and a spore; on the contrary, the results so far obtained have established that they essentially agree in being See also:

POST

post-meiotic (haploid). Why then do they differ so fundamentally in their reproductive capacities?

Again, sexual cells differ in See also:

SEX (Lat. sexes; possibly connected with secure, to cut)

sex; but there are as yet no facts to demonstrate any essential structural difference between male and female cells. What is known about them tends to prove their structural similarity rather than their difference. But it is possible that their difference may be chemical, and so not to be detected by the See also:

MICROSCOPE (Gr. µucp6s, small, asenreiv, to %view)

microscope. The normal sexual act has been described as consisting in the fusion, first, of two cells, then of their nuclei, and finally, often after a long See also:

INTERVAL

interval, of their chromosomes and of their chromomeres in meiosis. What causes determined these fusions is a question that is only partly answered. It is known in certain cases (e.g. ferns and mosses) that the male cell is attracted to the female by chemical substances secreted for the purpose by the female organ; that it is a case of chemiotaxis. Probably this is more See also:

COMMON

common than experiment has yet shown it to be. It is quite conceivable that the consequent cell-fusion, as also the subsequent fusions of nuclei and of chromosomes, are likewise cases of chemiotaxis, depending upon chemical See also:

DIFFERENCES, CALCULUS OF (Theory of Finite Differences)

differences between the fusing structures. The sexual process can only take place between cells which are related to each other in a certain degree (see HYBRmIsI) ; that is, it depends upon sexual See also:

affinity. It is the general See also:

RULE

rule that it takes place between cells derived from different individuals of the same species; that is, See also:

CROSS

cross-fertilization is the rule. This is necessarily the case when the male and female organs are developed upon different individuals, when the plant is said to be dioecious. When both kinds of organs are developed upon the same individual (monoecious), self-fertilization may and often does occur; but it is commonly hindered by various special arrangements, of which dichogamy is the most common; that is, that the male and female organs are not mature at the same See also:

time.

But though these arrangements favour cross-fertilization, they do not absolutely prevent self-fertilization. In some cases, cleistogamic See also:

FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL

flowers, for instance, self-fertilization alone is possible (see See also:

ANGIOSPERMS

ANGIOSPERMS). The general conclusion is that though cross-fertilization is the more advantageous form of sexual reproduction, still self-fertilization is more advantageous to the species than no fertilization at all. In considering this subject, it must be See also:

BORNE, KARL LUDWIG (1786–1837)

borne in mind that the terms used have different meanings when applied to certain heterosporous plants from those which they convey when applied to isosporus plants. In the latter cases their meaning is See also:

DIRECT

direct and simple: in the former it is indirect and somewhat complicated. In heterosporous plants generally the actual sexual organs are never borne upon the same individual, there is always necessarily a male and a female gametophyte; so that, strictly speaking, self-fertilization is impossible. But in the Phanerogams, where there is a process preliminary to fertilization, that of See also:

POLLINATION

pollination, which is unknown in other plants, the terms and the conceptions expressed by them are applied, not to the real sexual organs, but to the spores. Thus a dioecious Phanerogam is one in which the microspores are developed by one individual, the megaspores by another; and again, self-fertilization is said to occur when the microspores (See also:

POLLEN, AUGUST (or, as he afterwards called himself, ADOLF) LUDWIG (1794-1855)

pollen) fall upon the stigma of the same See also:

flower (see ANGIOSPERMS); but this is really only self-pollination. To return to the sexual process itself. Whatever its nature, two sets of results follow upon the sexual act—(I) a zygote is formed, which is capable of developing into a new organism; from two cells, neither of which could so develop; (2) the hereditary sporophytic characters of the two parents are possessed by the organism so developed. These two results will now be considered in some detail. (I) The Relation between the Sexual Act and Reproductive Capacity.—In the See also:

early days of the See also:

DISCOVERY

discovery of the sexual process, it was thought that the capacity for development imparted to the female cell was to be attributed to the doubling of its nuclear substance by the fusion with the male cell.

Reproductive capacity does not, however, depend upon the bulk of the nuclear substance, for a spore, like an unfertilized female cell, contains but the x number of chromosomes, and yet it can give rise to a new organism. Again, it has been observed (Winkler) that a non-nucleated fragment of an oosphere of Cystoseira (Fucaceae) can be " fertilized " by a spermatozoid and will then grow anddivide to form a small embryo, though it necessarily contains only the x number of chromosomes. From this it would appear that some stimulating See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence had been exerted by the male cell, and it is probably in this direction that the desired explanation is to be sought. Some important confirmatory facts have been recorded with regard to certain animals (See also:

sea-urchins). It has been observed (Loeb) that treatment with See also:

MAGNESIUM [symbol Mg, atomic weight 24.32 (0 = 16)]

magnesium chloride will cause the ova to grow and segment; and similar results have been obtained (Winkler) by treating the ova with a watery See also:

EXTRACT (from Lat. extrahere, to draw out)

extract of the male cells. Hence it may be inferred that the male cell carries with it, either in its cytoplasm (kinoplasm), or in its nucleus, extractable substances, perhaps of the nature of enzymes, that stimulate the female cell to growth. It may be mentioned that the stimulating effect of fertilization is not necessarily confined to the female cell; very frequently adjacent tissues are stimulated to growth and structural See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change. In a Phanerogam, for instance, the whole ovule grows and develops into the See also:

SEED (from the root seen in Lat. serere, to sow)

seed: the development of endosperm in the embryo-sac is initiated by another nuclear fusion, taking place between the second male nucleus and the endosperm-nucleus: the ovary, too, grows to form the See also:

FRUIT (through the French from the Lat. fructus; frui, to enjoy)

fruit, which maybe dry and hard or more or less succulent: the stimulating effect may extend to other parts of the flower; to the perianth, as in the mulberry; to the receptacle, as in the See also:

STRAWBERRY (Fragaria)

strawberry and the See also:

APPLE (a common Teut. word, A.S. aepl, aeppel, O.H.G. aphul, aphal, apfal, mod. Ger. Apfel)

apple: or even beyond the flower to the See also:

AXIS (Lat. for " axle ")

axis of the inflorescence, as in the fig and the See also:

PINE (Lat. Pinus, Gr. srlrur)

pine-apple. Analogous developments in other groups, are the calyptra of the Bryophyta, the cystocarps of the Red Algae, the ascocarps of the Ascomycetes, the aecidia of the Uredineae, &c. (2) The Relation of the Sexual Act to Heredity.—The product of the sexual act is essentially a diploid cell, the zygote, which actually is or gives rise to a sporophyte. The sexual heredity of plants consequently presents the See also:

PECULIAR

peculiar feature that the organism resulting from the sexual act is quite unlike its immediate parents, which are both gametophytes. But it is clear that the sporophytic characters must have persisted, though in a latent condition, through the gametophyte, to See also:

MANIFEST (Lat. manifestus, clear, open to view)

manifest them-selves in the organism developed from the zygote.

The real question at issue is as to the exact means by which these characters are transmitted and combined in the sexual act. There is a considerable amount of See also:

EVIDENCE (Lat. evidentia, evideri, to appear clearly)

evidence that the hereditary characters are associated with the chromomeres, and that it is rather their linin-constituent than their chromatin which is functional (Strasburger) : that they constitute, in fact, the material basis of heredity. From this point of view it is probable that the last phase of the sexual act, the fusion of the chromomeres in meiosis, represents the See also:

COMBINATION (Lat. combinare, to combine)

combination of the two sets of parental characters. What exactly happens in the pseudo-chromosome stage is not known; at any rate this stage offers an opportunity for a complete redistribution of the substance of the chromomeres—in other words, of the parental pangens. It is a striking fact that, in the subsequent nuclear division, the See also:

DISTRIBUTION (Lat. distribuere, to deal out)

distribution of the chromosomes derived from the male and female parents (when they can be distinguished) seems to be a See also:

MATTER

matter of indifference: they are not equally distributed to the two daughter-nuclei. The explanation would appear to be this, that they are not any longer male and female as they were before meiotic fusion; and that it is because they now contain both male and female nuclear substance that their equal distribution to the daughter-nuclei is unimportant. The nature of this redistribution of the substance of the chromomeres is still under discussion. Some regard it as essentially a chemical process, resulting in the formation of new compounds: others consider it to be rather a See also:

PHYSICAL

physical process, a new material See also:

SYSTEM

system being formed in the rearrangement of the pangens; here it must be See also:

LEFT

left for the present. The various ways in which the parental characters manifest themselves in the progeny are fully dealt with in the articles HEREDITY, See also:

HYBRIDISM

HYBRIDISM, See also:

MENDELISM

MENDELISM. It will suffice to say that the progeny, though maintaining generally the characters of the species, do not necessarily exactly resemble either of the parents, nor do they. necessarily present exactly intermediate characters: they may vary more or less from the type. It is an interesting fact, the full significance of which has not yet been worked out, that, as a rule, plants that vary profusely are those in which the characteristic 2X number of chromosomes is high (6o-too). Brief reference may be made to the cases of abnormal sexual or pseudo-sexual reproduction described above under Apogamy.

Taking first the cases of true apogamy, there is clearly no need for any sexual process, for, since no meiotic division has taken place, the gametophyte is diploid; its cells, whether vegetative or contained in female organs, possess the capacity for both development and the transmission of the sporophytic characters. It is not remarkable that such a gametophyte should be able to give rise directly to a sporophyte; but it is remarkable, in the converse case of apospory, that a sporophyte should give rise to a diploid gametophyte rather than to another sporophyte. In the latter case the tendency to the regular development of the alternate form appears to override the influence of the diploid nucleus. Turning to the various forms of pseudo-apogamy, there are first those in which fusion takes place between two apparently female organs (some Uredineae; Christman), and those in which it takes place between nuclei within the same female organ (Humaria; Blackman). If these are to be regarded physiologically as sexual acts, it must be inferred that the fusing organs or nuclei have come to differ from each other to some extent; for it is unthinkable that See also:

EQUIVALENT

equivalent female organs or cells should be able to fertilize, or to be fertilized by, one another. There are finally those cases in which apparently vegetative cells take part in the sexual act, as in Phragmidium (Blackman), where the female organ fuses with an adjacent vegetative cell, and in the fern-prothallium (Farmer), where the nuclei of two vegetative cells fuse. They would seem to indicate that vegetative cells may, in certain circumstances, contain sufficient germ-plasm to act as sexual organs without being differentiated as such. An interesting question is that of the origin of apogamy. It is no doubt the outcome of sexual degeneration; but this general statement requires some explanation. In certain cases apogamy seems to be the result of the degeneration of the male. organ; as in Humaria, where there is no male organ, and in Lachnea, where the male organ is rudimentary. In others, as in the Uredineae, it is apparently the female organ that has degenerated, losing its receptive part, the trichogyne; the male cells (spermatia) are developed normally, and there is no reason to believe that they might not fertilize the female organ were there the means of penetrating it. In yet other cases the degeneration occurs at a different stage in the life-history, in the development of the spores.

In the apogamous ferns investigated, meiosis is suppressed and apogamy results. In the heterosporous plants which have been investigated (e.g. Marsilia, Eu-Alchemilla) it has been observed that the microspores are so imperfectly developed as to be incapable of germinating, so that fertilization is impossible; and it is perhaps to this that the occurrence of apogamy is to be attributed. This abnormal development of the spores may be regarded as a variation; and in most cases it occurs in plants that are highly variable and often have a high 2X number of chromosomes. It will be observed that such physiological explanation as can be given of the phenomena of reproduction is based upon the results of the minute investigation of the changes in nuclear structure associated with them. The explanation is often rather suggested than proved, and some fundamental facts still remain altogether unexplained. But it may be anticipated that a method of See also:

RESEARCH (O. Fr. recerche, from recercher, re- and cercer, mod. chercher, to search; Late Lat. circare, to go round in a circle, to explore)

research which has already so successfully justified itself will not fail in the future to elucidate what still remains obscure.

End of Article: APOGAMY

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