A Heegaard-diagram of the 3-sphere (Q1063907)

\textit{J. H. C. Whitehead} raised the question [Proc. London Math. Soc., II. Ser. 41, 48--56 (1936; Zbl 0013.24801)], whether every Heegard diagram of a 3-manifold can be reduced to one of minimal genus by a sequence of simple moves, none of which increase genus. For the 3-sphere, this was elevated to a conjecture by \textit{I. A. Volodin}, \textit{V. E. Kuznetsov} and \textit{A. T. Fomenko} [Usp. Mat. Nauk 29, No. 5(179), 71--168 (1974; Zbl 0303.57002)]. The conjecture is false in general: counterexamples have been found by \textit{O. Ya. Viro} and \textit{V. L. Kobel'skiĭ} [Usp. Mat. Nauk 32, No. 5(179), 175--176 (1977; Zbl 0367.57001)], the author [J. Math. Soc. Japan 31, 687--691 (1979; Zbl 0408.57005)], and \textit{O. Morikawa} [Math. Semin. Notes, Kobe Univ. 8, 295--298 (1980; Zbl 0456.57003)]. It has, however been verified for genus two diagrams by \textit{T. Homma}, \textit{M. Takahashi} and the author [Osaka J. Math. 17, 625--648 (1980; Zbl 0454.57002)]. In the present paper, the author constructs a 2-parameter infinite family of genus 3 counterexamples, in which the number of intersection points of the two meridian systems is arbitrarily high.