GOLGI AND YOLK 121 



Golgi apparatus can be seen in the living oocyctes of Periplaneta 

 americana, both with the aid of neutral red and unstained. The 

 bodies were vesicular, with osmiophilic rims. As explained in the 

 previous section, Nath is probably describing an osmiophilic 

 sphere — the true Golgi dictyosome — -surrounding a vesicle of 

 cytoplasm corresponding to the idioplasm. In the maturing 

 oocycte these bodies spread throughout the cytoplasm and the 

 rim (spherical shell = dictyosome) becomes attenuated as the 

 interior becomes packed with fatty yolk. 



There does not appear to be much doubt that the description 

 given above is that of the secretion by the Golgi bodies (dictyo- 

 somes) of the fatty yolk. This is done just as the acrosome is 

 secreted, namely, inside the dictyosome. It is exactly comparable 

 with the case of Patella quoted above, except that Patella has the 

 dictyosome as batonnettes, but here they appear to be spheres. 

 (As already pointed out, Nath's explanation of the crescentic 

 bodies in sections does not satisfy us, and it may indicate that the 

 sphere is an incomplete one, just as it is in the formation of the 

 acrosome and in the Flagellate reservoir.) 



In 1926, Bowen (11) in reviewing the literature was unable to 

 come to any definite conclusion. He considered that the whole 

 question of yolk formation was in hopeless confusion. (Bram- 

 bell's paper in 1924 had done much to clear the air, and from that 

 the progress in this direction really dates.) Bowen makes the 

 suggestion, however, following Brambell, that one kind of yolk, 

 namely, the fatty yolk, lipoidal and blackened by osmic, light and 

 oily in character, was formed by the Golgi apparatus. This con- 

 clusion was more or less essential for his particular theory at that 

 time, although subsequent researches appear to have confirmed 

 his suggestions to a certain extent. 



Harvey, in the eggs of Ciona intestinalis (45), describes what 

 appears to be a modification of this process. According to him 

 the yolk arises partly from the material of the yolk nucleus, 

 which is albuminous, and partly from lipoidal substances extruded 

 from the follicle cells into the egg. These two materials are com- 

 pounded by the mitochondria into yolk by taking them into 

 their own substance, while retaining the individuality of the 



