From a cytological investigation of the somatic chromosome cycle of Safflower the following summary and conclusions are drawn:— The 2n number of the chromosomes is ascertained for the first time in this plant, as 20 from several counts of the somatic metaphase plates. The stages of somatic cycle are described in detail and an interlacing dual aspect has been shown to exist for the chromosomes in almost all the stages of the somatic cycle. The three theories of chromsome structure are briefly reviewed and discussed. The dual, twisted aspect of prophase chromosomes is demonstrated and discussed with special reference to the chromomeric hypothesis of chromosome structure. It is concluded that the chromomeric appearance seen in the prophase threads is due to the optical effects of viewing a deeply stained interlaced thread under the microscope, especially when stain is retained in the diamond spaces formed by the twists of the threads. Splitting of the daughter chromosomes is shown to occur in the preceding division—mostly in late prophase or early metaphase—for the separation in the present division. The mode of splitting or the line of cleavage in the daughter chromosomes is discussed and the conclusion is drawn that the assumption of a spiral split is more in agreement with the sequence of events than that of a straight split. Duality and twisted aspect of anaphase chromosomes are demonstrated and their significance in relation to the “Precocity hypothesis” explaining the difference between mitosis and meiosis, is described and discussed. It is concluded that the difference between the two is not a delay in the split in the prophase of meiosis as assumed by the above hypothesis, but a complete suppression of the prophase split in the heterotypic division of meiosis.