STUDIES OF AMITOSIS 491 



seems to represent the truth, and also there can be no doubt 

 that the nuclei take a role of essential importance in the for- 

 mation of this reserve material. 



c. Urates. According to Perez ('10), the occurrence of urates 

 in the true adipose cells was first demonstrated by Marchal 

 ('89), although certain special cells (urate cells) in the adipose 

 tissue were known to respond to tests for the same substance 

 since as early as the time of Fabre ('62). 



Berlese ('99, '01) and Henneguy ('04) considered the dots, 

 taking nuclear stains, often present in the albuminous granules, 

 as the visible form of an enzyme, secreted by the nucleus and 

 passed into the granules. They called such granules 'pseudo- 

 nuclei' from their resemblance to nuclei. Perez ('10) asserted, 

 however that these chromatic dots in the albuminous granules are 

 really nothing but concretions of urates. This view is strongly 

 supported by Hollande's (14) recent study, in which he maintained 

 that the uric concretions in the adipose cells are endogenic in 

 origin, and that they are formed by the transformation of al- 

 buminous substances. 



A consideration of the matter from a chemical point of view at 

 once justifies the possibility of the process, and since there is 

 no evidence showing that the cell functions in taking up urates 

 from the blood, we may safely accept, at least from the present 

 state of our knowledge, Hollande's opinion. 



d. Glycogen. The study of glycogen in adipose cells has been 

 very unsatisfactory. Terre ('00) cited Curvreur, who is per- 

 haps the first to speak of this 'animal starch' in the adipose tissue 

 of insects, and has demonstrated that fat may transform into 

 glycogen; and the former author suggested that this process may 

 represent the histolytic phenomenon of the adipose cells in the 

 bee. Vaney and Maignon ('06), as cited by Deegener ('14), 

 claimed that fat in the adipose cells of the silk-worm may change 

 into albuminoids and glycogen. However, the fact that glycogen 

 occurs in adipose cells from very early stages of larval life, as has 

 been observed in the case of Pieris, seems to make the opinion of 

 Vaney and Maignon doubtful, to say nothing of that of Terre. 

 It is not within the scope of this work to discuss the physiological 



