378 KING. [Vou. XIX. 
of the germ-cells already present in the germinal area. In 
Bufo I have found that the multiplication of the germ-cells 
is solely through mitotic division of the primordial cells 
evolved from embryonic issue. Although mitotic figures are 
comparatively rare during the early stages of development 
they are found very abundantly when the tadpole approaches 
metamorphosis, and in a single section of the ovary of a toad 
killed at this time one may find several cells that are preparing 
to divide (Fig. 17, P). Stages in the division of the primor- 
dial germ-cells are shown in Figs. 10-14. In the early pro- 
phase of mitosis the chromatin forms a thick spireme which is 
so much convoluted that it is impossible to determine whether 
it is continuous or not. This spireme is subsequently broken 
into segments of various lengths (Fig. 10). There are 24 
of these segments, this being the number that is characteristic 
of the somatic cells of the species. Usually all of the nucleoli 
have disappeared before the segments are formed, but some- 
times, as shown in Fig. to, Nu., a nucleolus will persist until 
a much later period. This would seem to indicate that the 
nucleoli are not used in the formation of the chromosomes. 
The chromatin segments shorten gradually and form broad, 
V-shaped loops which can readily be arranged in pairs ac- 
cording to their lengths (Figs. a1, 12). In the metaphase 
the chromosomes are arranged in a circle with the angle of 
the V turned towards'the centre of the spindle (Figs. 11, 13, 
15); and, as they subsequently undergo a longitudital divi- 
sion, much narrower V-shaped chromosomes are found at the 
spindle poles in the late anaphase (Fig. 14). 
In sections of the ovary of a tadpole killed at the time of 
metamorphosis germ-cells are frequently found which appear 
to contain two or more separate nuclei (Figs. 15, 16, X). 
Judging from these figures alone one might feel justified in 
concluding that the germ-cells divide amitotically as well as 
by mitosis. I have never found a division of the cytoplasm 
in any of the cases in which sections of the germ-cells contain 
two or three nuclei, and in every instance the following or 
preceding sections invariably show a connection between the 
various unclei in the cell. It is evidentfi therefore, that the 
