18 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



there is the other part which is situated in the neck of the 

 bottle, but is only a mass of mucous glands. 



That part in which the poison is produced appears to be 

 composed of a considerable number of partitions which support 

 the glandular cells. These partitions are relatively rectilineal 

 and radiate on a sort of axial pivot, cuttmg the gland into 

 elongated lobes which are also irregularly triangular. The 

 interior of these lobes is filled by the poison which turns red if 

 the section is stained with eosin, intense black if placed in 

 ironized hematoxylin. These lobes, more or less regular, do 

 not reach as far as the capsule. Between these and the capsule 

 there are other lobes, smaller, more irregular, and compressed ; 

 these are continuous with the principal lobes. Their structure 

 is identical and consist of a cavity containing the poisonous 

 secretion and lined with the glandular epithelium. Summing 

 up, we see that the poison-gland, properly speaking, consists 

 of partitions lined with glandular cells and poison-lakes. The 

 latter are the product of the former, and although ui the 

 section itself, the poison-lakes occupy by far the greatest 

 space, the fundamental part is the glandular epithelium. 



The anterior mucous part is composed of " acini," which 

 are continuous with the excretory duct itself, or first with 

 a kind of " reservoir " which communicates with the duct. 

 This duct is formed of several parallel conduits situated in 

 connective tissue. 



III. — Histology. 



I give below a description of the glandular epithelium and 

 of the manner in which the poison is elaborated. 



If a section of a poison-gland stained by ironized hema- 

 toxylin be examined under a medium power one sees around 

 the poison-lakes, colom-ed black, the glandular epithelium in 

 which three parts are recognizable (fig. 2). Adjacent to the 

 poison-lakes there is a stratum finely granulated and black as 

 ink. Next there is a more lightly -coloured region, and finally, 

 a layer more deeply coloured, which betrays the existence of 

 the nuclei. As the glandular lobes are adjacent to each other 

 we find the epithelia almost in contact at their bases and 

 separated only by a very fine coiuiective band. Thus, for 

 example, between two patches of black we find six small 



