THE GEPHYREA OF JAPAN. 35 



0.10 mm. high and made up of a substance which is not acted 

 upon by acetic acid or soda. Now in the Japanese specimens, 

 neither hook nor any other solid body can be detected in the 

 interior of the organ ; the organ is evidently a saccular gland 

 opening by a short narrow duct to the exterior. Fig. 63 represents 

 a portion of a cross-section through the body-wall, passing through 

 one of the organs under consideration. As may be seen from 

 that figure, the organ incloses a cavity and thus represents a 

 thick-walled sac, the wall being composed of two distinct layers. 

 The external layer [el) again consists of two layers, the j)eritoneal 

 covering and a connective-tissue layer, both of which are continuous 

 with the corresponding layers on the inside of the integument. 

 The far thicker internal layer (gl) of the organ is formed of an 

 epithelial row of very tall and large cells with granular contents. 

 The granulation of the latter is in some cells coarse, in others 

 much finer. Staining reactions show that the granules are closely 

 allied to mucin. The nucleus is mostly found situated close to 

 the inner end of the cells. The outleading canal of the gland 

 runs through the thick muscular body-wall to open by an external 

 pore. (The section of Fig. 63 did not pass right through the 

 length of the duct lumen, but the course of this duct is partially 

 indicated by its fibrous investment.)''' 



* Lately I have had the opportunity of reading Hermann Augenek's paper " Beiträge 

 zur Kenntniss der Gephyrcen" (Berlin, 1903), in which tlie author gives a detailed account 

 of the histological nature of the " Ovale Gebilde " or his " Kef erstein' sehe Bläschen." The 

 author doubts the correctness of Keferstein's representation of the structures as papillary 

 bodies containing hooks. He considers the wall (exclusive of the peritoneal and the 

 connective-tissue covering) of tlie body as consisting of two cellular layers : an inner layer, 

 directly lining the iumen of the body and showing a distinctly epithelial character, being 

 composed of radially arranged spindle-like cells with similarly shaped nucleus; and an 

 outer layer of a more connective-tit<sue-like appearance containing large lacunar spaces and 

 spindle-shaped nuclei. As the author himself makes the statements with much reserve, I 

 am led to doubt their validity; probably the appearances described by him were due to 

 some inappropriate methods of preparation. According to my experience, fixing reagents 



