482 HOPE HIBBARD 



Regaud has demonstrated that mitochondria are made up of 

 phospho-Hpin and albumen. The transformation of mitochon- 

 dria into fat or of fat into mitochondria has been discussed by a 

 number of investigators, but the intermediate steps are unknown. 

 Dakin states that fatty acids are not directly transformed into 

 amino acids, but the evidence leaves open the possibility of such 

 a transformation through carbohydrates. In that case, is there 

 a carbohydrate stage in the formation of mitochondria or of yolk? 

 Evidence of such a stage would be removed by all ordinary 

 methods of technique in preparing sections. Perez ('03) found 

 in the adipose cells of Formica rufa a transformation of fat 

 globules into albuminous bodies by the digestion of the former. 



A number of other authors have touched on this problem of 

 synthesis in the cytoplasm, but their conclusions are not in agree- 

 ment. According to Popoff ('10), chromidia from the nucleus 

 pass out and change to fat. Saguchi ('20) working on the islet 

 cells in the pancreas, describes lipoid granules being formed 

 from mitochondria. Hollande ('14) observes fat formed from 

 granules near the nucleus and then a transformation of part of 

 the fat into albuminoid bodies. Beckwith ('14) found pseudo- 

 chromatin granules which developed directly into yolk spheres; 

 Schaxel ('11) found chromatin emitted from the nucleus which 

 formed yolk spheres; Danchakoff ('16) found chromatin emitted 

 from the nucleus which synthesizes more chromatin in the cyto- 

 plasm. Ludford ('21) in Patella oogenesis found yolk to be 

 formed by Golgi bodies which were entirely distinct from the 

 mitochondria and the fragments of the nucleolus which he de- 

 scribed as being emitted from the nucleus. Nakahara's results 

 ('17) on Pieris, and Perez' work on Formica rufa both point to a 

 transformation of fatty bodies into albuminous bodies. From 

 these many observations it is evident that there are transforma- 

 tions of visibly distinct bodies into one another in the living cell. 

 The great need at present is for some technique which will demon- 

 strate accurately the intermediate steps. 



In this paper an attempt has been made to interpret those 

 chemical compounds in the cytoplasm of the egg of Echinarach- 

 nius parma which form distinct visible bodies and which can be 



