142 LOUISE B. WALLACE. 



disk-like form, described before, the cell-bodies from which 

 they have escaped, also gradually contract, the circumference 

 becomes greatly reduced and the density of the cytoplasm gives 

 it a purplish hue in iron-hsematoxylin (Fig. 58, a c\ When the 

 cyst-wall ruptures, these granular masses pass out in company 

 with the ripe spermatozoa and of course equal them in number. 

 The cells of the cyst-wall also break up and their fragments pass 

 into the lumen of the testis. Still another contribution to the 

 mass of degenerating cells comes from the remains of the "con- 

 necting body " or cytoplasmic neck which for a time unites two 

 sister spermatids and which contains the Zwischenkorper. In 

 spite of all these sources of supply enumerated above, a difficulty 

 still presents itself in the effort to explain all of the degenerating 

 cells in the sperm duct. Even when we grant that they arise in 

 three ways, viz.: from the cells of the cyst- walls, from the granu- 

 lar, cytoplasmic masses discarded by the spermatozoa and from 

 the connecting-bodies and their contained mid-bodies, still the 

 number appears to be too enormous to be wholly accounted for 

 in these ways. No doubt there is considerable fragmentation but 

 the size of the majority of the cytoplasmic masses is at least equal 

 to the size of the contracted masses as they escape from the cyst 

 (compare Figs. 56 and 59) so that fragmentation is not a satis- 

 factory explanation, especially as the total mass of them far ex- 

 ceeds the total mass of the spermatozoa. It might be thought 

 probable that the spermatozoa would pass through the ducts 

 more rapidly than the degenerating cells and so leave a relatively 

 large number of them behind, but it is difficult to see how this 

 could be true since the spermatozoa are rolled up and are, in all 

 probability, entirely inert. The contraction of the wall of the 

 sperm duct would surely propel the degenerating cells as rapidly 

 as the rolled up, temporarily inactive spermatozoa. 



In the duct are found some cells of a type quite distinct from 

 those already described and which could not have arisen in any 

 of the ways mentioned. These are comparatively large, some- 

 what oval cells and closely resemble the rolled up spermatozoa 

 in size and outline but differ from them in showing little or no 

 affinity for nuclear stains. If it seemed probable that a spermato- 

 zoon would remain coiled during the process of degeneration, 



