io THE EMBRYOLOGY OF THE HONEY BEE 



formly, but are gathered into small groups. These bodies, in 

 contact with the salt solution often display a lively dancing 

 (Brownian?) movement, recalling that of some of the flagellate 

 infusoria. Examination of a similar uninjured egg shows it to 

 be densely packed with the transparent vitelline spheres (i), 

 while surrounding them everywhere and filling the interstices be- 

 tween them is the interstitial substance (3), which also forms a 

 cortical layer around the periphery of the egg. The smaller 

 clear bodies (2) are uniformly distributed throughout the egg, 

 while the tiny greenish Blochmann's corpuscles (4) although 

 present within the interstitial substance throughout the egg, are 

 especially abundant in the cortical layer. Since of these four 

 components of the egg, one, namely the viscid interstitial sub- 

 stance, is protoplasm ; the remainder, therefore, with the pos- 

 sible exception of the Blochmann's corpuscles, constitutes the 

 deutoplasm, and this makes up by far the greater volume of the 

 substance of the ovum. In its physical make-up the egg contents 

 closely approximate that of an emulsion. 



Turning to sections of fixed and stained ova in the earlier 

 stages of development (Figs. 4A and B, Fig. 5) the egg is seen to 

 be filled with a network of deeply stained protoplasm enclosing 

 irregularly circular spaces. These are largest near the center 

 of the egg and diminish in size near the periphery. Around the 

 latter is a layer of protoplasm continuous with that forming the 

 meshwork. This is the cortical layer or "Keimhautblastem" of 

 Weismann and other German investigators (Figs. 4A and 5, CL). 

 It has a thickness of about 60 microns near the anterior pole of 

 the egg and diminishes gradually toward the posterior pole to 

 about one-half of this thickness. Near the anterior pole, on the 

 ventral surface, this layer sends out a conical projection into 

 the interior (Figs. I and 5, PP). This is the polar protoplasm, 

 the "Richtungsplasma"' of Petrunkewitsch. At this stage it con- 

 tains the polar bodies, or their remains. During the formation 

 of the blastoderm it disappears. Along the central longitudinal 

 axis of the ovum, particularly in its anterior half the strands of 

 the protoplasmic meshwork are much thicker than those nearer 

 the periphery of the egg (cf. Figs. 4A and B). Within the spaces 

 of the meshwork are scattered rounded bodies, spherical to long 

 ovoid in form, always more or less densely stained, but showing 



