GERM CELLS OF COELENTERATES 41 



the cytoplasm of growing eggs ; in other words the morphological 

 conclusions appear to be supported by experimental results. 



Outside the forms already mentioned, the insects are described 

 as showing a passage of chromatin into the cytoplasm. Wassi- 

 lieff ('07) finds the nebenkern of the cockroach spermatid has 

 come from chromatin of the nucleus by a diffusion through the 

 membrane. 'Hegner ('15), in the honey-bee and carpenter-ant, 

 thinks the oocyte nuclei give off chromatin, which appears in 

 the cytoplasm of fixed eggs as granules. In echinoderms Dancha- 

 koff ('16) finds basic granules, indications of cytoplasmic move- 

 ments, and other conditions similar to those described by the 

 author ('13) for Campanularia, but believes these mark the pas- 

 sage of basic material of the cytoplasm into the nucleus, where 

 it becomes differentiated and helps to form chromosomes. 



There are abundant records in the literature of the presence 

 of basophile granules in the cytoplasm of eggs and other cells of 

 animals. These have been observed and studied by cytologists, 

 following their usual technique and have been interpreted in 

 accordance with the morphological appearance; relatively few 

 attempts having been made to check these by chemical or 

 physiological tests. It would appear from some of the recent 

 work that staining reactions are much less specific and selective 

 than has been assumed ; conclusions drawn from stained material, 

 therefore, would have little significance and would be misleading, 

 since morphological structures of a very diverse chemical com- 

 position and varied functions may stain ahke. From this point 

 of view, all interpretations based upon staining are of little value 

 until they have been checked by appropriate chemical or physio- 

 logical tests. I believe there is a large element of truth in these 

 criticisms, and we have probably gone to an extreme in inter- 

 pretations based upon purely morphological studies. For present 

 purposes we are very fortunate to have had such a test of baso- 

 phile granules of echinoderm eggs, with an application of these 

 to the chromidial hypothesis of Goldschmidt and Schaxel. This 

 hypothesis is not entirely substantiated by van Herwerden, and 

 some of the 'chromidial apparatus' described for echinoderms is 

 believed to be artificial. But the fundamental principle of the 



