282 FRANCIS A. HULST. 



without their intervention and before their arrival, contrary to 

 Kowalevsky. 



At the end of physiological activity of the muscles, there is a 

 weakening and chemical alteration shown by the staining proper- 

 ties and minute structure, the cause of which is in the muscle 

 itself. The chemical alteration now attracts leucocytes by chem- 

 otaxis and these ingest the sarcolytes. At a later period phago- 

 cytic leucocytes, empty or gorged, and the fragments upon which 

 they prey, occupy the cavities of the body, and the author believes 

 that the engorged leucocytes are identical with the granular 

 spheres of Weismann. It is the function of these phagocytes to 

 remove the muscular detritus from its place of origin, digest it, 

 and transport the products of this digestion to the places where 

 they may be utilized anew in the animal economy. 



Bruyne further notes that the removal and placing in reserve 

 of muscular debris often happens in an entirely different manner, 

 and here he agrees with the views of Metschnikoff. In one case 

 there was no degeneration of the nuclei followed by their incor- 

 poration in phagocytes, but on the contrary they were seen to 

 hypertrophy before a trace of degeneration was present. The 

 nucleus with the sarcoplasm around it isolates itself from the rest 

 of the muscle fiber and forms a complete cell. These cells con- 

 duct themselves like the muscular phagocytes of Metschnikoff, 

 in the larval tail of the frog, /. e., acting like an amoeboid cell, it 

 ingests muscular debris. He calls them " sarcoclasts " or " rnyo- 

 clasts." These cells are numerous, consisting of muscular nuclei 

 surrounded by cytoplasm which radiates in all directions to the 

 periphery and results in a general network in the meshes of which 

 are located the sarcolytes, the largest of which are grouped near 

 the nucleus and retain their rose tint ; the smaller, more wasted 

 ones near the periphery show a pale staining property, which 

 facts indicate that there is a change going on within the cell. 



In Bombyx mori the same author describes the same phenomena 

 as taking place. Both leucocytes and sarcoplastic phagocytes 

 were found, the latter in a relatively small number. Similar con- 

 ditions were found in other organisms studied by him. 



Anglas ('oo), studying the wasp and bee, found the muscles 

 to be overrun with leucocytes as soon as the contractile property 



