THE BEGINNINGS OF IIFE. 295 



though he has occasionally seen large bodies of this kind 

 existing singly within representatives of the genus Kol- 

 poda^ and also in specimens of Kerona. He says^: — 

 ^ I have observed this in Kolpodas, which, judging from 

 their great size, appeared to have arrived at their last 

 stages of life/ He states, moreover_, that two or three 

 times he saw such <^Kolpodas with their bodies half 

 opened, though still having the egg in the midst of 

 the disorganized structure.' In animals about -^■^" in 

 length the germ varied in size from ^rW ^o yoVq-"- 



Fig. 6S. 

 Development of Embryos in dying Kerona. (Pouchet.) 



It was altogether an unmistakeable sort of body, situated 

 near the middle of the animal, and made up of a dense 

 aggregation of fine granules bounded by a transparent 

 vitelline membrane or zona pelluclda. It was also en- 

 tirely free within the substance of the organism — in 

 which no trace of an ovarium was to be discovered. 

 In exceptional cases M. Pouchet,^ has seen two other 

 smaller though otherwise similar bodies, adjoining the 

 more fully developed ovum. He has never, however, 

 seen more than three within any single animal, and has 



* ' Heterogenic,' p. 400. 



