322 J. E. BLOMFIELD. 



mine ; 1 did not observe any endogenous formation of nuclei, 

 and thought that the large multinucleated mass arose by 

 division of the nucleus. These large multinucleated masses 

 are found during the late spring and early summer months, 

 when the male ovules have given place to mulberry -like masses 

 (grappes) adherent to the walls of the gland. These bodies 

 consist of several pyriform cells, each one containing one nu- 

 cleus, or a nucleus in the act of dividing into two, which are 

 united by strands of clear substance to a central mass containing 

 a large, well-marked nucleus. This central mass he calls the 

 " mother cell," and its nucleus " the principal nucleus." 



He gives no name to these cell groups, but in my paper 1 

 proposed to call them sperm-polyplasts. It is best to have some 

 name for such cell masses, as they are of very frequent if not 

 universal occurrence in the development of the spermatozoa of 

 various members of the animal kingdom. The terra blas- 

 tophor or blastophoral cell was applied by me to the body, which 

 takea no part in the formation of the spermatozoa, but plays the 

 part rather of a support for the others, which M. Duval calls 

 " mother cell," a term objectionable on account of its having 

 been applied to quite different factors of the process by other 

 authors. The term " spermatoblast " is used by me for the 

 young condition of the cells which actually and individually 

 develop each into a spermatozoon. These terms may seem to 

 many to be unnecessary, but any one who has studied the subject 

 will find that the variety of names in use, and the manner 

 in which one author applies one term to one thing and another 

 applies the same term to a totally different, do not conduce to 

 clearness, and if the process is to be generalised to one or 

 more plans, definite names are necessary to point definite stages 

 in the course of events. 



The next stage concerns the formation of the spermatozoa from 

 the spermatoblast, which is (according to Duval) brought about 

 in a more complicated manner than that described by me. In 

 each spermatoblast, which has much the shape of a racquet, 

 appears in the region of the handle, a minute spot exhibiting 

 great affinity for staining reagents, which he calls the "cepha- 



