308 KING. [Vol. XVII. 



threads and nucleoli lie (PI. XXVIII, Fig. 14, R). In the 

 lower part of the vesicle the granules are extremely coarse and 

 somewhat irregular in outline (Fig. 14, N) ; they do not form 

 a reticulum, but are closely crowded around the periphery of 

 the vesicle. When the nuclear membrane disappears at the 

 lower pole of the vesicle (PI. XXVIII, Fig. 13), fibers from 

 the dense substance below extend up between the granules, 

 and, except that the nuclear granules are somewhat smaller, 

 there is no difference in appearance between the structure of 

 the nucleoplasm and that of the granular substance below the 

 dense dividing line. After the use of the combination stain, 

 all the granules appear deep carmine, and the dense fibrous 

 band stains an intense blue. 



Many eggs removed from the female and left in water for 

 half an hour show phenomena similar to those which have 

 just been described in eggs known to be normal. Others, 

 however, show more advanced changes. The fibrous band 

 around the lower part of the germinal vesicle shortens gradu- 

 ally, and from extending nearly halfway around the vesicle, as 

 in PL XXVIII, Fig. i, it comes to occupy only a relatively 

 small space at what was the lower pole of the vesicle. In 

 further description I shall call this band a "line of radiation," 

 although I am aware that the term is not entirely appropriate. 

 The nuclear membrane has now completely disappeared, yet 

 the contents of the vesicle lie in a space sharply marked off 

 from the cell contents. I have found the line of radiation 

 nearly straight (Fig. 14, LR), or curved in either direction 

 (PI. XXVIII, Fig. 13; PI. XXIX, Fig. 17), when the adjacent 

 parts of the Qgg were in relatively the same condition, so I do 

 not think that the form of the line of radiation is at all constant, 

 or that it can have much significance. As it becomes shorter 

 the line of radiation broadens considerably ; its fibers are with- 

 drawn from the substance beneath, so that the lower part of this 

 structure becomes a narrow, compact, fibrous band, sharply de- 

 fined below, and gradually extending into a loose upper mesh- 

 work from which a larger number of fibers extend up between 

 the coarse granules of nucleoplasm (PI. XXVIII, Fig. 14). 

 These fibers are much longer than in the preceding stage ; 



