ABSTKACTS OF MEMOIRS. 247 



Some Points in the Physiology of Lamellibranch Blood Corpuscles. 

 By G. H. Drew. Quar. Jour. Micro. ScL, Vol. LIV, Part 4, Feb- 

 ruary, 1910, p. 605. 



The Origin and Formation of Fibrous Tissue as a Reaction to 

 Injury in Pecten maximus. By G. H. Drew and W. De Morgan. 



Quar. Jour. Micro. Sci., Vol. LV, Part 3, September, 1910, p. 595. 



These investigations were carried out as a necessary preliminary to 

 furthei; work of an experimental nature on the mode of origin of 

 tumours. Most of the work was done on the common cockle and 

 scallop. 



The difterent sorts of corpuscles present in the blood were described, 

 and it was shown that they were capable of ingesting, and so destroy- 

 ing, bacteria ; thus protecting the animal from bacterial attacks. It 

 was also shown that if the animal were wounded, so that any l)lood 

 escaped, the corpuscles adhered to the injured surfaces and then 

 sent out long, slender processes which would join up with similar 

 processes from corpuscles on the other side of the wound. A net- 

 work is thus formed in which other corpscules become entangled and 

 so block up the opening of the wound. Finally, the protoplasmic 

 strands forming the network contract, and so draw together the 

 injured surfaces, which soon heal up. 



The formation of fibrous tissue as a reaction to injury, and the 

 consequent healing of wounds by "scar-tissue" formation, was also 

 studied in detail. It was shown that any injurious foreign body which 

 was implanted into the tissues of the animal was rapidly surrounded 

 by an agglutinated layer of blood corpuscles, and that these were soon 

 replaced by a dense mass of fibrous tissue. The foreign body thus 

 becomes completely surrounded by a protective fibrous capsule, which, 

 by shutting it ofif from the neighbouring tissues, tends to prevent its 

 injurious action from spreading. It is perhaps an interesting point in 

 the study of Evolution, to note that the process of " scar-tissue " forma- 

 tion, by which such animals as the scallops are enabled to recover from 

 injuries, differs only in detail from the similar process which occurs in 

 the highest types. 



G. H. D. 



