288 



THE EVOLUTION OF MAN. 



of dark, multilateral entuderm-cells (i), and covered by a 

 light-coloured globular membrane, which is composed of a 

 single stratum of exodei-m-cells (e). A ti-ansparent bright- 

 coloured liquid now collects at a point between the two 

 germ-layers ; and this increases so greatly that it expands 

 the exoderm cellular membrane into a large globular vesicle. 

 The mass of entoderm-cells, forming a ball of smaller 

 diameter, remains attached to one point of the exoderm ; 

 (according to Van Beneden, this point is that of the yelk- 

 plug, o). The entoderm mass now becomes flattened, first 

 assuming a hemispherical, then a lentil-shaped, and finally 

 a discoidal form : this is accomplished by a movement 

 among the cells, which spread themselves out in a one- 

 layered circular disc. 



Fig. 71. — Gastrnla of a Mam- 

 mal {Aniphigastrnla of a Rabbit) 

 in longitudinal section tlirouyli 

 the axis : e, exodei'm-cells (64, 

 lighter. coloured and smaller) ; i, 

 entoderm-cells (32, darker and 

 larger) ; d, central entoderm-cells, 

 occup3'ing the primitive intes- 

 tinal cavity ; o, peripheric ento- 

 derm-cells, plugging the primi- 

 tiv^e mouth-opening (the yelk- 

 plug in the "anus of Kusconi"). 



This vesicular condition of the mammalian germ was 

 detected two centuries ago (1677) by Regner de Graaf He 

 discovered small, globular, transparent vesicles, A\itli a 

 double membrane, lying free in the uterus of a Rabbit four 

 days after impregnation. But Graaf 's statement was not 

 accepted. It was not till 1827 that these vesicles were 



