»» V. E. EMMEL 



1. Small eosin staining bodies 



In figures 14 and 20 several small round red bodies (e) are to 

 be observed about a third or less than a third the size of an aver- 

 age erythrocyte. Such bodies were found more or less constant 

 in young pig, mouse and rabbit embryos although they may 

 vary considerably in number in different specimens. These 

 structures may be observed lying free anywhere in the coagu- 

 lated coelomic fluid or, as is more frequently the case, in con- 

 tact with the coelomic walls. As a rule they are quite round, 

 sharply defined and take a brilliant red stain with Giemsa and 

 Azur-eosin. Upon careful focus they sometimes present the 

 appearance of a slightly clearer central area. They are non- 

 granular in structure. Occasionally similar bodies are also found 

 in the circulating blood. 



As to the nature of these bodies, the first suggestion to pre- 

 sent itself is that of cytoplasmic fragments of disintegrated 

 erythrocytes. Upon closer examination, however, it may be 

 observed that a narrow basophilic rim can in many cases be 

 detected at the periphery of structures in question (figs. 21, 

 24 to 26). Consequently, without excluding the possibility^ of 

 their partial or even entire cytoplasmic character in some in- 

 stances, the latter observation necessitates the identification of 

 the majority of .these bodies as elements other than merely eryth- 

 rocytic cytoplasmic fragments, as will be presently more fully 

 discussed. A second possibility to be considered is that of their 

 identification with cytoplasmic buds constricted off from coe- 

 lomic macrophags. Downey (13 p. 42) in a description of the 

 detachment of cytoplasmic buds from lymphocytes and large 

 mononuclear cells in the lymph gland of the rabbit, found that 

 these detached bodies may vary greatly in their basophilia and 

 concluded "that after reparation from the cell the irregular 

 masses assume a spherical shape and that they gradually lose 

 their basophilia." It was thought that possibly similar changes 

 might account for the eosinophilic bodies in question, but no 

 satisfactory evidence was obtained demonstrating transitional 

 stages between such basophilic bodies and these intensely eosin- 



