346 ARTHUR WILLIAM MEYER 
or in which they are composed of a layer of greatly enlarged 
oedematous endothelial cells, so as to make the cross-section of the 
vessels look not unlike that of a duct, Hofbauer cells never 
were found in close proximity to capillaries or other vessels or 
in unusual numbers elsewhere in the stroma of such villi. Nor 
did I see any evidence for such an origin in villi from hemor- 
rhagic or inflammatory cases, and although Hofbauer cells often 
lay near to, or even in extravasations in the villi, they never 
were found engorged with erythrocytes or pigmented. Never- 
theless, if Hofbauer cells arise from mesenchyme cells, it stands 
to reason that they at least may be potentially phagocytic, and 
failure to find them so may be accounted for by the fact that 
they possess a lowered vitality in consequence of degenerative 
changes. 
I am prompted to suggest, in connection with the question of 
phagocytosis, that, unless we regard the process as other than 
an actively vital movement on the part of the cell for the pur- 
pose of engulfing things, we have undoubtedly misused the term. 
That the mere possession of parts of cells, or even of whole cells 
within the cytoplasm, is not sufficient evidence for the posses- 
sion of phagocytic activity on the part of a particular cell, seems 
to me to be beyond question. In some instances, for example, 
degenerating phagocytic leucocytes fuse with each other in 
groups of twos, threes or even in greater number, thus forming 
multinucleated and not infrequently vacuolated complexes. 
Similar phenomena can be seen also among degenerated ery- 
throblasts and trophoblast cells. Although it would be incor- 
rect to regard these degenerate fusion products as true, living 
giant-cells, they nevertheless simulate such very closely indeed. 
Moreover, when these larger fusion products fuse with an in- 
dividual cell of the kind that gave rise to them, it would be quite 
natural to regard them as being phagocytic, while, as a matter 
of fact, the process is merely one of degeneration. Another 
example of what we may call pseudophagocytosis is that repre- 
sented by the isolated erythroblasts rarely seen in the stroma of 
a villus. In some instances two or three cells, whose bounda- 
ries for the most part still are clearly outlined, can be seen to 
