STUDIES ON GERM CELLS ole 
besides adding considerable new material, and any one desiring 
a comprehensive review of the present state of our knowledge 
of these symbiotic organisms is referred to his paper. Thirty- 
four species are described and figured by Buchner. Some of 
them are bacteria, such as those in the cockroach, but others 
are more like yeasts. The infection of the egg, which reminds 
one of the infection of the egg of the Texas fever tick by Piro- 
plasma bigeminum, may be diffuse, as in the cockroach, or 
localized, as in the aphids. Buchner decides that these organ- 
isms are symbiotic, but, like Mercier, was unable to discover 
any advantage to the insect host from the relationship. 
The secondary nuclei. One of the most interesting features of 
the growth of the oocyte in certain insects is the formation of small 
nuclear-like bodies around the oocyte nucleus. Bodies of this 
sort were first described by Blochmann (’84, ’86) in Hymenop- 
tera. Since then they have been observed in insects belonging 
to this order by Stuhlmann (’86) and Marshall (’07) and similar 
bodies were noted by Korschelt (’86) near the nuclei of both the 
oocyte and nurse cells of the fly, Musca vomitoria. Korschelt 
was unable to determine the origin, function, and fate of these 
‘helle Blaschen’ but noted their resemblance to those discovered 
by Blochmann. 
The two ants, Camponotus ligniperda and Formica fusca, and 
the wasp, Vespa vulgaris, were all found by Blochmann to be 
very much alike so far as the growth of their oocytes is con- 
cerned. The origin of the nuclear-like bodies is described in 
Camponotus as follows: 
Bei etwas dlteren Eiern beginnt nun an der Oberflaiche des Kernes 
ein Knofpungsprocess, der schliesslich zur Entstehung einer grossen 
Anzahl kleiner Kerne fiihrt. Man bemerkt als erste Andeutung dieses 
Processes kleine, helle, rundliche Gebilde, die dicht an der Oberfliche 
des Kernes anliegen, und die ich in meiner vorlaufigen Mittheilung als 
‘knétchenf6rmige Verdichtungen’ bezeichnet hatte. Ich neige jetzt 
zu der Ansicht, dass es von vornherein kleine Vacuolen sind, da die 
Kernmembran sich meist etwas farbt und stets sehr scharf erscheint, 
wahrend ich an diesen kleinen Gebilden bei ihrem ersten Auftreten 
keine derartige Membran unterscheiden kénnte. Bald tritt in diesen 
Vacuolen ein kleines mit Pikrocarmin sich farbendes Kérnchen auf 
diese Vacuolen oder, wie ich sie jetzt nach dem Auftreten des Chro- 
