333 W. ARCHER. 



any time take a share in the development of the germ, 

 maintaining throughout its integrity. Hence he holds that 

 this body cannot at all be regarded as a sexual gland in the 

 sense of Claparede and Lachmann, but only as an organ of 

 secretion ("ein besonderen Secretionsvorgangen dienendes 

 Gebilde "). The next following changes concern the median 

 zone alone ; its granules become pretty regularly scattered 

 through and through the body-mass, the total body-substance 

 changes to a dirty-yellow, cloudy mass, the nucleus the only 

 unaltered element. By-and-by, however, a renewed activity 

 sets in ; a number of extremely minute granules appear at 

 the borders of the body-mass, which are seen in dancing 

 agitated motion — taken at first by the author for mole- 

 cular — these, in an hour to an hour and a half, break 

 away in innumerable multitudes and swim rapidly about in a 

 " tumultuous " manner. These the author calls " Be- 

 fruchtungskorperchen." Soon now the nucleus disap- 

 pears; whether it becomes atrophied, or mixes its contents 

 with the rest of the mass, the author leaves in abeyance. 

 These minute bodies by-and-by disappear. Now, there is 

 seen within the still intact test a remaining mass, very 

 capable of being overlooked as a mere portion of detritus 

 undergoing solution, and, therefore, of no further moment; 

 but this is the germinal mass, and not at all defunct, but 

 endowed with latent life. Simultaneously arising at several 

 points of this mass there are now seen minute sharply, con- 

 toured puncta, soon increasing in size and appearing as little 

 elevations. These are the germs ; they show a very equable 

 distribution, mostly in lines, not crowded. These little 

 papillae the author compares to " shagreen-paper," and for 

 want of a better term would call this the " shagreen " state. 

 At first occupying the whole cavity of the test, it becomes 

 afterwards balled together, leaving at the oral pole a little 

 half-moon-shaped vacuity. Soon the test now begins to 

 split and break up, till at last the "shagreen" becomes 

 free; it loses now its rounded form, presenting an irregularly 

 bounded, not very refractive body ; its surface appearing 

 rough owing to the projecting granules, a throughout charac- 

 teristic speciality. It now undergoes a process of cleavage, 

 but this is not regular either in direction of the lines of 

 cleavage or in the size or form of the divisions, which, 

 when completed, form an unconnected cluster (fig. 2). The 

 basic substance in which the sharply contoured granules lie 

 embedded disappears, the whole breaks up into a finely 

 granular detritus, producing a complete setting free of the 

 granules. These increase in size, are sometimes round, 



