MATURATION OF OVUM OF ALCYONIUM DIGITATUM. 493 
Notes on the Maturation of the Ovum of 
Alcyonium digitatum. 
By 
M. D. Hill, W.A.Oxon., 
Assistant Master at Eton College. 
As long ago as 1892 Professor Hickson! drew attention to 
certain recorded facts as to the fragmentation of the oosperm 
in the ova of various animals, and added thereto subsequently 
accounts of his own researches on Distichopora and Alcyo- 
nium. In these papers he showed that at least there was 
strong reason to believe that the early development of these 
ova was strikingly different to what had been described in a 
host of other animals, and to what was generally held to be 
necessary from a theoretical standpoint. It has always been 
a matter of surprise to me that these observations did not 
attract more notice from cytologists. In fact, they appear to 
have been almost entirely overlooked. Prof. KE. B. Wilson 
in his widely known summary of our knowledge of the cell? 
makes no reference to them, nor does he include Hickson’s 
papers in his bibliography of cytological literature. There 
could, however, be no doubt that if Hickson’s observations 
were correct a new series of phenomena in cytology had to be 
reckoned with. Press of administrative and other work pre- 
vented Prof. Hickson from following up his discovery, and in 
1 §. J. Hickson, ‘‘ Fragmentation of the Oosperm Nucleus in certain Ova,” 
‘Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc.,’ viii ; “ Development of Distichopora,” ‘Q. J. M. S.,’ 
vol. xxxv; “ Embryology of Aleyonium,” ‘ Rep. Brit. Assoc., Bristol,’ p. 585. 
2 E. B. Wilson, ‘The Cell in Development and Inheritance,’ March, 
1902. 
