150 



JAMES ERXEST KINDRED. 



Fixed and Stained Smears of Perivisceral Fluid. In smears 

 fixed with Helly's fluid and stained with Khrlirh's triacid stain, 

 a very clear differential staining of certain cells occurs. The 

 leucocytes are only slightly affected by the stain. No distinct 

 granulations are present in the cytoplasm. The nucleus is, 

 relatively large as compared with the cell body (Fig. 2). 



The spherules of the amebocytes with colorless spherules are 

 amphophilic to basophilic and stain violet to blue. Further- 

 more, these spherules do not retain their spherical shape (Fig. 2). 

 The nucleus of this type of cell is small and compact as compared 

 with the size of the cell, but it is actually as large as the nucleus 

 of the leucocvte. 



FIG. 2. Cells from smear of perivisceral fluid stained with Ehrlich's triacid 

 stain, a, leucocyte; b, amebocyte with basophilic spherules; c, amebocyte with 

 acidophilic spherules. X 1200. 



The red spherules are acidophilic in reaction and stain a 

 brilliant red (Fig. 2). These spherules retain their spherical 

 shape, and are as sharply distinct in the fixed, as in the living 

 material. Some of these spherules exhibit stages of degeneration 

 and stain less strongly than others, a fact which leads to the 

 inference that they may possibly be the spherules of amebocytes 

 with yellow spherules, since the latter present no other definite 

 tinctorial reaction. The relative number of cells with faintly 

 acidophilic spherules corresponds in general with the number of 

 amebocytes with yellow spherules in the living condition. 



In smears fixed in the fumes of 2 per cent, osmic acid the 

 spherules of the amebocytes are preserved and are sharply out- 

 lined in black. The color differences between the spherules are 

 lost. The positive reaction of the spherule membrane to the 

 osmic acid as contrasted to the solubility of spherule content is 

 interpreted to mean that the albuminous part of the spherule is 

 its content, and that the lecithin part forms the membrane. 



