232 B. F. KINGSBURY AND PAULINE E. HIRSH 



uicht behaupten, class sie nicht auch slei<^hzcitig mit cler Samenfaden- 

 bildung noch vorkommen konntcn. Nach dcm ganzen Habitus aber 

 handelt es sich offenbar urn Processe der Degeneration und des Unter- 

 gangs von Kernen und Zellen, die aus einstweilen unbekannten Ursachen 

 zur Zeit der Epithelwucherung in manchen Cysten eintreten, und die, 

 wenn auch in der Form nicht ganz gleichartig, am nachsten vergleich- 

 bar erscheinen mit der chroniatohjtischen Entartung der Kerne im ovari- 

 alen Follikelepithel, die ich kiirzUch an andorem Orte beschrieben habe 

 (Flemming, '85). 



A definite localization in 'the spermatogenetic cycle was thus 

 not given, though it was recognized that it occurred much earlier 

 than the period of 'spermatogenesis' at the time of cell prolifer- 

 ation. The cause was neither ascertained nor suggested. 



Hermann ('81), in the same material of investigation, devoted 

 (p. 99) more attention to these degenerations, describing the 

 changes in the chromatin and achromatic substance in the nu- 

 cleus, their altered staining reactions (as was subsequently done 

 b}^ Heidenhain and others). He noted the common occurrence 

 of the degeneration in a certain kind of cell (his 'spermatocytes'), 

 the degeneration of entire lobules and the freedom from degener- 

 ation of the follicle cells. He regarded the degeneration as nor- 

 mal and, in connection with the question of its significance, he 

 commented on the extravagance in the outlay of germ cells, call- 

 ing in as illustration the atresia folliculi. 



Driiner ('93) devoted an article of several pages to the attempt 

 to show that the degenerations in the testis of Salamandra de- 

 scribed by Flemming and Hermann, were due to a parasite (pro- 

 tozoan, coccidian) whose spores entered the nucleus. His view 

 will be commented on subsequently. Later workers on amphib- 

 ian spermatogenesis (Meves, McGregor, Montgomery, and others) 

 have not, so far as we are aware, noted the occurrence of such 

 degenerations as have been described in Salamandra. 



Whatever may be the condition in other salamanders, aside 

 from the European form in which these degenerations have been 

 recorded as given above, in Desmognathus studied by us they are 

 of constant occurrence. The material collected and studied cov- 

 ers a period of ten or twelve years and is from localities in the 

 vicinity of Ithaca one to two miles apart. The occurrence of the 

 degenerations becomes striking when it is recognized that they 



