SHAPE OF MAMMALIAN RED BLOOD CORPUSCLE 449 



he considers normal (cf. Weber and Soiichard, '80). Jolly 

 emphasizes that the separating lines of rouleaux are transverse, 

 the terminal corpuscles flat, and the free corpuscles discs; excep- 

 tionally a cup was seen at the end of rouleaux or isolated. 

 Spherical corpuscles were never observed in the bat, but were 

 seen in the rat and guinea-pig as Weidenreich and especially 

 Triolo ('05) had reported. 



Jordon ('09) examined the omenta of two anesthetized cats 

 and reports that both cup or saucer shapes and discs were ob- 

 servable in equal numbers. 



According to Schafer ('12, p. 366) the cup view " . . . . 

 can not be accepted for, on examining the circulating blood in 

 the mesenterj^ and other transparent parts of mammals, it is 

 easy to observe that, with few exceptions, the erythrocytes are 

 biconcave." 



Of interest to the present discussion is the conclusion of Gage 

 ('88) concerning the red corpuscles of the lamprey. These 

 bodies, described as cup-shaped by several workers (e.g., Giglio- 

 Tos, '99) are said by Gage to be biconcave discs within the 

 circulation. 



3. Results from fixed material 



The loss of the nucleus was believed by Rindfleisch ('80) to 

 be responsible for the early bell shape of the erythroplastids, 

 the subsequent assumption of the adult biconcave form resulting 

 from mutual impact. With a variety of fixatives, however, he 

 obtained cup-shaped corpuscles in adult blood. 



Howell ('00) considered Rindfleisch's hypothesis erroneous 

 (p. 103): "It seems to me very natural to suppose that the 

 biconcavity of the mammalian corpuscle is directly caused by 

 the loss of the nucleus from the interior." 



Malassez ('96) found 2 per cent osmic acid produced cups, 

 and complete spheres. 



Cup-shaped corpuscles were described by Dekhuyzen ('99) 

 as a transient developmental stage, yet he records that his assis- 

 tant, Blote, obtained bells when blood was drawn into osmic 

 acid. Heinz ('01) likewise held cups to be immature forms and 

 also described nucleated cups. 



