450 Andrews: Preservation of protoplasmic spinnings. XIV, 4. 



in place of distilled water. Being ill and pressed for time, I used 

 here also a kind of guess work as to the amount of concentration, 

 but tke result happened to be quite good, so that I feel snre that 

 by more delicate adjustment of all the particulars of the method 

 here given, valuable resnlts might be gained. Probably there are 

 many better methods waiting for discovery. The specimens with 

 which I sncceeded best, kept well for three years, and not only 

 journeyed abont Enrope and crossed the sea in a trunk, but jour- 

 neyed three times to and fro between Maryland and Massachusetts. 

 1t was probably the jarring of these last transits by freight that 

 destroyed thein, for the membranes were finally shaken loose and 

 the still perfect cells scattered. 



As to the rnain mass of the eggs, the best result had by the 

 osmic method was found to show a niost delicate and beautiful vesi- 

 cular and reticular structure throughout the egg. But in no 

 instance d i d t h i s v e s i c u 1 a r structure and arrange- 

 m e n t correspond with that s e e n in o t h e r 1 i v i n g eggs 

 of the same stage, nor in those preserved eggs just 

 previous to application of the reagent. 



Spinnings were preserved between the egg and the membrane, 

 in various stages ; between the cells in various stages ; and about 

 the polar globules at different times. But these threads are few in 

 number compared with the liviug phenomena. They are thieker 

 than the average largest throads and they have a viscid, mucilagi- 

 nous , or contracted , look. They hardly assert themselves to be 

 more than what might readily pass as exudations, or coagula, or 

 purely physical and chemical products. They are not ramified as 

 when alive, hut may appear slightly lumpy or irregulär at some 

 points ; or may be reduced to drop-like bodies, or irregulär mats of 

 entangled threads, and then more strongly suggest exudations if not 

 coagulations. What was in the bring State a widespread net of 

 many complex wave and thread extensions , is found in the best 

 preserved material to be but an irregulär, straggling group of crooked 

 threads , which one who had not seen the living State would feel 

 rash in assuming to be anything but coagula. 



While therefore the resnlts obtained were hopeful, they cannot 

 be claimed to be more than suggestive. The living phenomena 

 liaving been seen, however, the preserved processes are at least 

 proof that the former were present in the different stages. And one 

 comes, at least after much familiarity with the living characters, to 



