186 M. E. Claparede on the Formation of the Egg 



found in the female genitalia (Bischoff's epithelial conules), ex- 

 cept that they are rather longer. This difference, however, is of 

 no consequence, if we consider that the thimble-like corpuscles 

 of the female are furnished with a flocculent tuft at one extre- 

 mity. Supposing that a small portion of the finger-like body 

 acquires a flocculent nature, it will be impossible to distinguish 

 it from a thimble- like corpuscle. No further development was 

 observed within the male genitalia. 



Bischoff has asserted that he has again met with his epithelial 

 conules, although of a different form, in Strongylus auricularis 

 and Ascaris nigro-venosa. In Strongylus auricularis the conical 

 seminal corpuscles, first described by Bagge and Reichert, occur 

 not only in the female, but also, in masses, in the male sexual 

 organs. They were never observed adhering to the walls of the 

 genital tube. The development of these corpuscles is rather 

 complicated, and our observations upon it do not agree perfectly 

 with those of Reichert. Reichert took up the idea that the parts 

 of most zoospermia, namely the head and tail, are to be found 

 in the seminal corpuscles of Strongi/lus auricularis, by which 

 many errors have been produced. Such a comparison between 

 these seminal corpuscles and the tailed zoospermia is inad- 

 missible. In the latter the tail is the moving, and the head 

 the passively moved part. We shall see hereafter that, when 

 the seminal corpuscles of Strongylus auricularis begin to move, 

 the part that moves is exactly that to which Reichert gave the 

 name of the head, whilst the so-called tail is trailed along. 



We shall content ourselves for the present with these observa- 

 tions, without entering upon a more exact description of the 

 process of development of these seminal corpuscles. We shall 

 only add, that the last stage of development which is met with 

 in the males, forms bodies which may be compared with an 

 elongated cone, or perhaps better, as the tips are usually bent 

 round, with the horn of a chamois. 



4. Of the Fecundation, 



It is one of the most beautiful results of modern physiology 

 that several observers have succeeded in proving, in various ani- 

 mals, that the penetration of one or more zoospermia into the 

 ovum is the first condition of impregnation. It might, how- 

 ever, at present, be somewhat precipitate, if we were to set up 

 the general proposition that no fecundation is possible without 

 the direct penetration of the spermatozoon itself. We need only 

 refer to the immense zoospermia of certain Salamanders, and 

 especially to those of the species of Cypris, which are so uncom- 

 monly large, that they not only considerably exceed the egg, but 



