! I ITSK RIFT FÖR I.I J.I.J EBORG 



'". This is due to the presence of innumerable white corpuscles or amoe- 



which join together into an irregular, large-meshcd network visible to the 



nalc, The phenomenon takes place in a somewhat different manner according 



to the tunn of the glass in which the fluid is kept. When, for instance, emptied into 



a low, flat glass, the corpuscles do not sink to the bottom but form a large, meshy 



igulum" crossing the liquor and sending out threads to the bottom and sides of 



the glass as well as to the surface of the liquid itself. In a long, tubular glass, on 



the contrary, the floating corpuscles join and fuse together so as to form a meshy 



d along the middle of the tube attached by some threads to the sides. 



In both cases the meshwork gradually diminishes in volume, and finally pre- 

 sents itself as a darker mass at the bottom of the glass. When viewed with a mo- 

 derate magnifying power, the meshy "coagulum" appears to be built op of heaps 

 and bands of white corpuscles the pseudopodial plasm of which has joined and fused 

 together. 



In order to subject the fluid in question to a more detailed examination with 

 a higher magnifying power, it is suitable to remove with a pipette a drop of it from 

 the body-cavity, and to place it upon a slide under a cover-slip, which, however, 

 ought not to press against the former. In order to hinder the evaporation of the 

 fluid, it is as well to tighten and fix the cover-glass with melted wax. In such a 

 "humid chamber" 1 have succeeded in following the gradual changes of the corpus- 

 for several hours. 



When examining the fluid kept under the cover-slip, it is seen to contain 

 tour kinds of corpuscles, viz., pale corpuscles or amoebocytes, pale granular corpuscles, 

 brown granular corpuscles, and small globular cells with a long, vibrate cilium. As 

 to the different shapes of these bodies, I refer to the reports of Geddes and other 

 investigators, which agree in all respects with my own observations. 



As mentioned by Geddes and others, it is the pale corpuscles or amoebocytes 



that play a part in the formation of the plasmodia and network; the remaining ones 



accumulate in the interstices of the meshwork or rest upon or within the plasmodia 



evidently without fusing with them. The amoebocytes begin to stretch out their 



i in all directions and tend to meet those of other amoebocytes in their 



vicinity in order to fuse together with them. Owing to the differences in distance, 



cell-bodies themselves may either remain separate, only bound together by the 



to form a true network, or they may become drawn closer and 



»gether by the shortening of their pseudopodia until two, several, or many of 



Ml1 Int " larger and smaller plasmodia, which in their turn become con- 



•tli. r plasmodia or solitary amoebocytes by thread-like processes of various 



