THE TROPHOSPONGIUM OF THE NERVE CELL OF 
THE CRAYFISH (CAMBARUS) 
iL. S. ROSS 
From the Hull Laboratory of Anatomy, University of Chicago 
ELEVEN FIGURES 
Attempts to solve recognized cytological problems are con- 
tinuously bringing new problems to the attention of the investi- 
gator. Improved instruments and new technique serve to bring 
to view unsuspected elements of structure in the constitution 
of the cell. The multiplication of physiological problems keeps 
pace with the increase of the morphological. 
In cells of different tissues from various animals, both chordate 
and non-chordate, a more or less complex framework extends 
from without into the cell body. This is known as the tropho- 
spongium of Holmgren, or simply the trophospongium. Coghill 
in his review (’04) states that the first observation of such a 
structure in the nerve cell was recorded by Fritsch in 1886 in a 
study upon the medulla oblongata of Lophius; that Holmgren 
in 1899, in a report upon an investigation of the spinal ganglion 
cell of Lophius was probably the first to confirm this observation 
of Fritsch and that in the same year, 1899, Nelis described struc- 
tures that evidently are the same as those observed by Fritsch 
and Holmgren. Since that date numbers of investigators have 
studied the trophospongium in its morphological and physio- 
logical aspects. 
The descriptions of the trophospongium as given by some 
authors seem to indicate that the structure is composed of a 
reticulation of delicate fibers. On the other hand the descrip- 
tion as given by Antoni refers to the capsular buds (‘kapsulire 
Sprossungen’) from the intercellular tissue, that separate the 
protoplasm of the nerve cell into unequal lobes. These processes 
523 
THE JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY, VOL. 25, NO. 6 
DECEMBER, 1915 
