The spermatogenesis of Peripatus (Peripatopsis) balfouri. 309 



distribution throughout the nucleus, while connecting the granules and 

 masses of them are delicate linin fibrils. The figures show these 

 relations better than it can be described; all the granules and fibrils 

 have been represented here with great care, and the drawings show 

 the chromatin as it is seen in one plane of view. Every granule 

 or mass appears to have linin connections with others ; the chromatin 

 is found close to the surface of the nuclear membrane as well as 

 throughout the nuclear cavity: this comparatively equal dispersal in 

 all parts of the nucleus is especially characteristic for the rest stage. 



Now in the successive stages of the later synapsis and of the 

 telophase are found all the stages leading up to this even dispersal 

 of the chromatin. First the chromosomes elongate and become more 

 bent, then each splits longitudinally, and the split halves separate 

 more widely from one another; during these processes the split halves 

 of one chromosome are pulled, or move, nearer corresponding halves 

 of others, so that each chromosome assuming a more loose structure 

 becomes gradually more difficult to separate from its fellows. 



But though in the resting nucleus an apparently wide and even 

 dispersal of the chromatin particles seems to obtain, so that in most 

 cases the outlines of individual chromosomes cannot be followed, yet 

 it would be incorrect to conclude that the chromosomes as such have 

 disappeared. For in certain nuclei in the stage of pure rest, the 

 stage being determined by the appearance of the nucleus and of the 

 idiozome sphere, a persisting portion of one or more chromosomes 

 can sometimes be made out (Figs. 102, 105). Such chromosomes, or 

 portions of them, each appears as two more or less parallel chains 

 of granules arranged on linin threads, the number of granules in the 

 two threads being equal: obviously this represents the split halves of 

 one chromosome. This allows us to conclude that at least portions 

 of the chromosomes preserve their integrity throughout the rest stage ; 

 but if portions maintain their earlier relations, why may we not con- 

 clude that the whole chromosomes do? A few demonstrable cases of 

 persisting portions of chromosomes recognizable as such, in the height 

 of the rest stage, would outweigh the negative evidence afi'orded by 

 the large number of nuclei where they cannot be recognized; the 

 difference between the chromosome of the rest stage and of the pre- 

 ceding telophase is only one of degree : in the latter the chromosome 

 is easily determinable by virtue of being more compact, in the former 

 stage it is less easily recognizable owing to its being less compact in 

 structure. 



