IQO J. DUESBERG. 



Holmgren" (p. 395). This trophospongium belongs to the 

 diffuse type. It appears either as a canalicular network (p. 399), 

 or as a solid network (p. 404), and the authors suppose that it is 

 the "transformation substantielle de ce trophosponge qui donne 

 naissance au reseau des canalicules du sue, selon la conception 

 de Holmgren" (p. 404). In that paper Bouin and Ancel are 

 quite reserved as to the existence of connections between this 

 network and trophocytes, but they subscribe entirely to Holm- 

 gren's conception in a note published the same year (1905, 2), 

 evidently written subsequent to the other. According to their 

 description the young interstitial cells of the testicle of the horse 

 are penetrated by processes of cells of connective tissue acting as 

 trophocytes. These processes are later transformed into a system 

 of canals which open at the periphery of the interstitial cells. 

 In these later stages they still surround, but can no longer be 

 followed within the interstitial cells. 



Whether or not Bouin and Ancel are still upholding their view 

 I do not know, but it should be pointed out that no mention of it, 

 or of the "canalicules du sue" is made in Bouin's description of 

 the interstitial cells of the testicle, in Prenant, Bouin and Mail- 

 lart's Traite d'Histologie. I would call attention also to the 

 fact that the only figure in the above mentioned papers (Fig. 3, 

 1905, i) that shows anything like what the authors describe, in 

 reality rather contradicts that description. This figure repre- 

 sents a group of interstitial cells containing something that 

 resembles the "canalicules du sue"; but at the same time 

 there is no trace of trophocytes, cells of connective tissue, or any 

 connective tissue at all, between these cells, and consequently 

 no indication of a connection between such cells and the canalicu- 

 lar apparatus. This is the crucial point. Aime (1907) also has 

 described in the interstitial cells of the ovary intracellular spaces 

 whose existence is beyond doubt, but he states definitely: 

 "Nous n'avons pas vu de relations entre ces canaux et les cellules 

 conjonctives entourant les cellules interstitielles" (p. 121, Fig. 

 n). The first point I would dispute is the existence of the tro- 

 phocytes, at least in the opossum. As stated above, in a heap 

 or row of interstitial cells the cells themselves are not separated 

 by connective tissue or cells of any kind. On the other hand, if 



