XI 



ELECTRICAL FISHES 



381 



kind of swelling (Fig. 249, b, c, rf). The whole is suggestive 

 " of a tassel, hanging from a loop set with knots (muscle-nuclei) " 

 (Babuchin). Striated fibrils from the fibres of the trunk extend 

 into the bladder-like swelling, described by Babuchin, on account 

 of its being the initial stage of an electrical plate, as the plate- 

 rudiment (" plattenbildner "). Fritsch defines them as "young 



FIG. 249. Development of the electrical plates of Torpedo from embryonic muscle-fibres. (Babuchin.) 



plates," since with continued growth they are transformed directly 

 into the final structure, and he believes that the characteristic 

 pear-shaped form of Babuchin's figures must be referred to the 

 swelling effect of the macerating methods employed. He him- 

 self, like Krause (17), finds them more loaf-shaped. The 

 unequal length of the single muscle -fibres, which form the 

 foundation substrate of a column, causes the plates to be of 

 different heights in longitudinal section (Fig. 250). 



" The non-swollen section of the muscle-fibres always remains 

 at the same stage of embryonic development, and finally forms a 



