66 CYTOPLASMIC STRUCTURES IN THE SEMINAL EPITHELIUM OF THE OPOSSUM. 



that the migration of the ring is very rapid. The next change, i. e., the collection 

 of the chondriosomes on the axial filament, also takes place with remarkable 

 rapidity, for stages like those represented in figures 13 and 14 are found side by side, 

 while intermediate stages are very scarce. It would seem that after the ring has 

 traveled a short distance on the axial filament a sort of attraction is exerted on the 

 chondriosomes. This impression is rather strengthened by a study of preparations 

 fixed with Regaud's fluid, in which rods are found instead of granules (fig. 18). 



As neither the "tingierbare Korner" nor the small granules which I have 

 regarded as remnants of the idiozome are fixed by Regaud's fluid, these prepara- 

 tions are especially convenient for the study of the chondriosomes in the last 

 stages of spermiogenesis. In figure 18 (and also in figure 14) the middle piece 

 appears covered with chondriosomes, while a number of these bodies are still 

 scattered in the cytoplasm. These latter ones will never find a place on the axial 

 filament. Figure 19 shows how they are carried away by the protoplasm flowing 

 toward the head to form the residual body; they are finally accumulated below the 

 nucleus (figs. 20 and 21). At the same time they dispose themselves in a peculiar 

 and quite characteristic manner close to the periphery of the protoplasm (figs. 15a, 

 20, and 21), a disposition which is still more evident on cross-section (fig. 156). 

 Finally they are eliminated. I therefore agree on this point with Jordan, but 

 nevertheless doubt very much that his conclusion was supported by his own observa- 

 tions. Had he seen the process just described he certainly would have mentioned 

 it, but neither in his drawings nor in his text does he give any indication of it. In 

 my opinion, what Jordan probably saw was the elimination of the "tingierbare 

 Korner" and other granules especially well preserved in fixing reagents containing 

 osmic acid. 



All the protoplasmic granules and detritus are very conspicuous in prepara- 

 tions after Benda's method. The "tingierbare Korner" (figs. 13, 14, 15a, and 156) 

 are somewhat larger than in the preceding stage (cf. fig. 12). Next to these are the 

 small granules interpreted as remnants of the idiozome (figs. 15a and 156). In the 

 residual body cast off by the spermatozoon, there appear numerous vacuoles and 

 large granules (fig. 16), some stained in purple, others in brown. The granules, or 

 part of them at least, are probably formed by the eliminated chondriosomes which 

 degenerate. Romeis (1912) has described a "Verklumpung" of the chondriosomes 

 in degenerating spermatozoa found in the so-called "poche seminale" of Ascaris; 

 the masses formed by the chondriosomes retain for a time their original stain, but 

 later, in Benda's preparations, take up the suLf alizarin. 1 Regaud's material shows 

 in the residual body more vacuoles than Benda's (fig. 21), the former reagent appar- 

 ently dissolving some of the granules preserved in the latter. 



In connection with the elimination of chondriosomes at the end of the spermio- 

 genetic process in mammals, I would recall that Regaud (1908) described its occur- 

 rence in the spermatid of the rat, while I would not admit it, any more than in the 



'A paper by Bang and Sjbvall (1916), which I would have liked to consult in this connection, was not available. 



