The main stages of sporoderm ontogenesis in fertile Faba bean are at once shown like reference. In these plants, five running periods are recognized in the tapetum activity: 1) after the break-up of tetrads and the release of microspores in the anther cavity, theVicia fabatapetum presents an important secretory activity and its inner plasmalemma gets wavy. In the crypts thus formed and along the plasmalemma inner face a fibrillar network is developing, limited from the loculus by a thin pellicle with which it is in continuity. This whole structure constitutes the tapetum glycocalyx and reacts positively with ferric hydroxylammonium, PTA at low pH, PTA-acetone and PATAg; 2) at unpolarized microspore stage, many lipid droplets are accumulated in glycocalyx; 3) at polarized microspore stage, numerous membranous formations (F.M.), sometimes in continuity with the plasmalemma, are formed in the tapetum glycocalyx. In sixteen stamens on thirty, orbicules are not formed but the F.M. move in the anther cavity and are solely fixed on the ectoaperture edges of microspores. In fourteen stamens on thirty, membranous formations are embedded in a dense material and give rise to protoorbicules which move to the inner face of the tapetum pellicle; 4) during the microspore mitosis, the tapetum degenerates but keeps an undamaged plasmalemma with a normal glycocalyx on all its surface. F.M. and orbicules are increased; 5) in the course of pollen maturation, the tapetum decay is achieved and at anthesis are present only some broken membranes covered by a sporopollenin pellicle bearing orbicules.