INTEGUMENT OF NECTURUS MACULOSUS 545 
figure. He concludes, therefore, that in late stages of gland 
development the increase in the number of nuclei takes place by 
direct division. Nicoglu (’93) and Nirenstein (’08) hold a similar 
view. According to Talke (’00), all increase in the number of 
cells, in the late as well as in the early stages, is a result of indirect 
division. In the glands of Necturus mitotic figures are found 
occasionally and in several cases granules of secretion could be 
’ distinguished scattered about the spindle figure, showing that, 
even after a cell has begun to elaborate secretion, the nuclei 
may divide by the indirect method. But division of the cell 
does not always immediately follow nuclear division, and two, 
sometimes four, nuclear masses are found within the limits of 
one cell. This condition is best demonstrated in tangential 
sections of the glands (fig. 10), where the nuclei may be seen in 
groups of two or four. | 
During the development of the secretion within the granular 
cells, the nuclei usually increase enormously in size, and those 
writers who have maintained a nuclear origin for the secretion 
regard this phenomenon as evidence in support of their view. 
Still, it is quite probable that with the increased activity within 
the cytoplasm there would be, correlated with it, an increased 
activity within the nucleus, which is commonly regarded as the 
dynamic center of the cell. The accelerated metabolism within 
the nucleus: might well find expression in an increase in its size. » 
However, many granular cells, containing immense quantities of 
secretion, have nuclei very little larger than those of ordinary 
epidermal cells from which they were derived (fig. 33). Also in 
mature glands, in which no new secretion is being formed and the 
cell limits have entirely disappeared, greatly enlarged nuclei 
are found (fig. 9). It would seem, therefore, that increase in the 
size of the nucleus is not always closely correlated with active 
production of secretion. In Necturus I have never found any 
acidophilous granules within the nuclei, and there is nothing to 
indicate that the secretion is a direct nuclear product. 
In the glands of Triton, Klein (’79) has described giant nuclei 
from 126 to 129 » long. Nicoglu (’93) also found these ‘Riesen- 
kerne’ in the poison glands of several species of Triton. Phisalix 
