OF A SILUROID ; s. HIROTA. 371 



fibres containing blood-vessels, lymph-cavities and nerve-bundles. 

 Particulars concerning each of these zones are briefly stated in the 

 following paragraphs. 



Tlie Cortex. 



In describing the cortex it is convenient to consider separately 

 the parenchyma-like epidermis and the glandular cells, although the 

 two stand in close relations with each other. The parenchyma-like 

 epidermis is, as shown in Figs 20 and 21, formed of densely packed 

 simple epidermal cells with ordinary round or oval nuclei and of 

 scattered bottle-shaped slime cells (si) with short ducts. In or near 

 the stalk of the organ, the epidermis forms ;i thick continuous stratum 

 and is the sole component of the cortex in that part (Fig. 18). In 

 the more distal portion, i.e., in the thin lobes of the appendage, it is 

 interrupted by numerous pits in which it suddenly thins itself out and 

 at their bottom exposes the heads of underlying glandular cells to be 

 spoken of immediately (Fig. 20). The slime cells are found only in 

 those regions where the epidermis attains a certain thickness and are 

 entirely absent from the pits. 



Longitudinal sections of the basal portion of the appendage show 

 that the epidermis is directly continuons with that of the body proper 

 (Fig. 18). In both parts, the epidermis is exactly alike in structure, 

 except that in the appendage it is interrupted by numerous pits, the 

 bottom of which is always occupied by glandular ceils. In the body 

 proper, these glandular cells are entirely absent, although quite a 

 different sort of gland-cells known as goblet cells are present (Figs. IS 

 and 19). The slime cells are fe^v in number in the stalk but they can 

 be traced in longitudinal sections right to the body proper without any 

 great gap in the series. They are, in the appendage and the body 



