26 J. E. WODSEDALEK. 



Fig. 23 shows still another type of cell with a bipolar spindle 

 or an attempt at one. A ring of ten chromosomes can be seen near 

 one pole and partly pushed out of the cell through the cell wall 

 which had been broken at that place. Judging by the conver- 

 gence of the spindle threads in that half of the cell one would 

 conclude that these ten chromosomes never occupied a position 

 in the plate, and it appears as though this was an attempt on the 

 part of the cell to get rid of some of the chromatin material which 

 did not harmonize with the other parts of it. The clump of 

 chromosomes was apparently repelled by the others with suf- 

 ficient force to cause them to break through the cell wall. Only 

 about twenty other cases similar to the one just described were 

 observed in all of the tissue studied. However, a number of 

 these the author is inclined to regard, on account of circumstan- 

 tial evidence, as being due to methods of technique, though 

 even in the more suspicious cases he is not absolutely positive 

 that such in the real cause. In at least a dozen of cases there 

 seems to be no doubt but that the expulsion of masses of chro- 

 mosomes is actually due to the activity of the cell itself. Among 

 these twelve cases a regular series from partial to total expulsion 

 of a mass of chromosomes can be demonstrated. The number of 

 chromosomes comprising such a discarded mass varies from five 

 to nineteen. 



The assumption that an effort is made on the part of some cells 

 to discard some of the chromatin material is further substantiated 

 by the fact that in many cells a mass of chromosomes was seen 

 closely applied to the inner side of the cell wall. At times the 

 cell wall bulges out at such a point and has the appearance of 

 being quite taut in the immediate vicinity of the chromosomes, 

 giving the impression that some repelling force is acting upon 

 them. The most notable evidence in favor of this assumption 

 lies in the morphology of the cell, represented in Fig. 24. The 

 unfortunate thing about this matter is, of course, that only a 

 single cell of its kind, the one here represented as accurately as 

 possible, was found even after a long and diligent search for 

 more was made. It may at first seem very unscientific or even 

 ridiculous to attach so much value to a single cell. Nevertheless, 

 the significance of the structure of this cell, lonely as it is, must 



