No. 5-] STRUCTURE IN AN ABNORMAL PIGEON. 219 



Fig. 7. — X no. An egg in process of re- 

 sorption by means of the transformed fol- 

 licle cells. /, phagocytes ; ry, cytoplasm. 



extent. Fig. 7 shows a somewhat advanced stage. The sec- 

 tion is to one side of the center of the Q^g. The remaining 

 cytoplasmic material {cy) exhibits a very ragged, irregular border, 

 surrounded by numerous nuclei lying in one continuous mass 

 of cytoplasm. These nuclei are 

 the nuclei of the erstwhile fol- 

 licle cells, whose walls have dis- 

 appeared, and the cell contents 

 flown together to form a syn- 

 cytium. Brandt pictures a very 

 similar phenomenon in his paper 

 {cf. Brandt, '89, Figs. 4, 13, and 

 16). 



In regard to the origin of the 

 phagocytes in such cases there 

 is some difference of opinion. 

 Brandt ('89) describes the occur- 

 rence as due to the wandering in of follicle cells, while Willey 

 ('91) maintains that in the case he studied, the cells were trans- 

 formed stroma cells. Ruge ('89) says that, in such cases of 

 resorption in the amphibian ovary, both the follicle and stroma 

 cells, or white blood corpuscles, play a role. 



In the present instance the process is carried on almost 

 wholly by the transformed follicle cells. In a very few cases 

 where eggs lay in the neighborhood of the larger blood vessels, 

 cells from the outside seemed to be wandering through the 

 follicular layer ; but they could never be traced into the interior 

 of the egg. At that part of the %gg periphery not yet attacked 

 by the eating cells, normally, the follicle is visible as a com- 

 paratively thin layer of cells, each with a distinct membrane. 

 When about to undergo the transformation into phagocytes 

 they enlarge, the cytoplasm shows a different micro-chemical 

 reaction, and the cell boundaries become less distinct. At a 

 little later period many of the cells are seen undergoing kary- 

 okinetic division. After karyokinesis, they loose their walls 

 and are ready to take on the new function of resorption. 



Often, as is shown in Fig. 5, the new cells (/) were confined 

 to one side of the ^gg, and resorption occurred only from that 



