i88 INTERNAL SECRETIONS 



But Guyenot and Ponse (1923) have made a detailed experi- 

 mental study of this question and they have come to a con- 

 clusion definitely opposite to that of Harms. According to 

 Guyenot and Ponse the Bidder's organ has no influence at all 

 on the sex characters, the testicle alone being responsible for 

 hormone production in the male toad. 



According to Champy (1921), who has studied the changes in 

 the testicle of Triton alpestris for two years, real interstitial cells 

 are absent. But Champy found in the testicle connective tissue 

 cells which can store lecithin ; they are regarded as homologous 

 with the interstitial cells of other amphibians and vertebrates. 

 The lecithin is not stored until after the spermatozoa are formed, 

 and after the external signs of heat have already appeared. 

 Champy inhibited in Triton alpestris the completion of sper- 

 matogenesis experimentally by inanition during the summer. 

 In this case the external signs of heat also were absent. Champy 

 concluded from his observations that in the triton the inter- 

 stitial cells have not the endocrine function such as was demon- 

 strated by Ancel and Bouin in other vertebrates, but that 

 in the animal in question this function is performed by the 

 generative part of the testicle only. The same conclusions 

 were drawn by Champy (1908) for Rana esculenta. He found 

 that the interstitial tissue in the testicle of this animal attains 

 its climax in autumn when spermatogenesis ceases. The 

 interstitial cells assume at that time the appearance of glandular 

 cells, which they lose more or less suddenly in the following 

 July when spermatogenesis begins again. The statement 

 made by Champy about Rana esculenta does not agree with 

 those of various authors about other frogs and Biifo vulgaris, 

 where the curve of growth of the interstitial tissue is more or 

 less parallel to the curve of the generative part {Fig. 93). The 

 difficulties in the way of our theory arising from observations 

 like those of Champy, which diverge so much from those on 

 other amphibians, are the same as those already dealt with in 

 discussing the seasonal changes in the testicle of mammals. 

 The objection may also be made that the decrease of interstitial 

 tissue during heat in Rana esculenta is only an apparent one. 

 Champy's observation that the interstitial cells assume the 

 character of glandular cells only after the completion of 

 spermatogenesis does not justify this objection. 



Similar observations were made by Humphrey (1921) on 



