540 GENCHO FUJIMUEA 



body is protoplasmic, and commonly has a large number of 

 plastosomes, besides more or less lipoids which are often 

 discernible, though vacuoles are almost absent (figs. 55 to 

 61). The other represents those cells whose body presents 

 a highly vacuolar image, whereas the protoplasm considerably 

 decreases except around the nucleus, while no plastosomes are 

 to be found. The lipoids contained are irregular in their quan- 

 tity, but more or less of them are always existent (figs. 64 to 69) . 

 A great majority of the commonly so-called decidual cells 

 belong to the former, while a comparatively small number is 

 represented by the latter. In the former class the structure of 

 the cell is entirely different from the small-type decidual cells 

 and my 'intermediate type,' so that along lines of histology 

 there is no indication of the existence of the process of secretion, 

 and although hpoids exist in small numbers, their quantity 

 quickly decreases and they go out of existence as the cell body 

 grows up in size, so that it would be in order to denote the lipoids 

 rather as persistent bodies bequeathed from a period of their 

 growth, and consequently it follows that it would be no great 

 error to conclude that at this period a secretion, such as was notice- 

 able at the period that preceded it, either considerably dechnes 

 or entirely disappears. However, in the various cells which 

 belong to the latter class, the afore-mentioned secretory func- 

 tions are developed to the extreme throughout all their growth, 

 and there is an appearance which points to the utter exhaus- 

 tion of plastosomes on account of these functions. From the 

 scantiness of materials, it is difficult to determine the destiny 

 of this kind of cells; whether the cell body ultimately breaks 

 up and decays or is absorbed or whether after throwing out 

 the secretions, the plastosomes again increase or are re- 

 plenished, and thus it slowly passes into the former class of 

 cells; however, I at least am confident that it would be prema- 

 ture to assert that the various periods illustrated stand for 

 a direct indication of retrogression or decay. In short, in the 

 larger-typed decidual cells, it is possible clearly to observe in 

 a portion of them the same process of secretion as in the small 



