抄録
Large multinucleate and polyploid P. M. C.'s (syncytes) were observed in Erianthus arundinaceus, in Saccharum robustum, and in a S. sinense×spontaneum hybrid. Further development of these syncytes was traced as far as possible through meiosis.
Syncytes previously reported in plants are classified according to whether they originated through errors in archesporial mitotic divisions, through the migration of a nucleus from one P. M. C. into another, or through the fusion of P. M. C.'s. The syncytes described in Saccharum and Erianthus are con-sidered to be cases of fusion syncyte formation.
It is suggested that in Saccharum and its relatives, syncytes might lead to the formation of diploid pollen grains, and that they may play a part in the male transmission of 2n chromosome numbers.
