OVUM IN THE CAPE AND NEW ZEALAND PERIPATUS. 11 
Ovarian Ova.—Three ova of December are shown in 
fig. 22, and are very similar to the September ones of 
P. capensis; in fact, up till nearly the beginning of April, 
the ova of the two species are indistinguishable. 
Fig. 23 is from a section of an ovum in which the germinal 
vesicle has acquired the full size which it attains while still in 
the centre of the ovum, The germinal vesicle has a somewhat 
different structure from that of P. capensis of the same stage 
(cf. fig. 8); it has a groundwork which has no structure, and 
does not stain, but is fairly definitely marked off from the rest 
of the egg, while in it lies a deeply-staining, irregular network, 
which has a rather coarsely granular appearance, and a round 
excentric large nucleolus, or germinal spot. Small round, 
highly refractive yolky particles were present in the egg 
protoplasm. 
The next ovum which I have figured is shown in fig. 24; 
unfortunately it had become broken off from the ovary before 
it was cut, so that I could not see its relation to its stalk or 
follicle. It was round in shape; it had a thick shell, which was 
broken in one place, probably at the point of attachment to the 
ovary. There was no trace of a germinal vesicle or germinal 
spot. The protoplasm formed a loose reticulum with a granular 
structure, and through it were scattered round homogeneous 
bodies, which I believe to be yolk, but I have no observations 
on their origin. 
Uterine Ova.—In the youngest ova in the uterus there is 
no sign of germinal vesicle or male pronucleus. The proto- 
plasm forms a loose reticulum and contains yolk-spheres. 
The reappearance of the germinal vesicle and the formation 
from it of two polar bodies takes place as in P. capensis. 
In two ova in which the formation of polar bodies was taking 
place, the male pronucleus was present as a small chromatin 
body lying at the periphery of the ovum opposite the side 
where the germinal vesicle was situated, and surrounded by a 
small zone of clearer, less deeply staining protoplasm than that 
of the main part of the ovum; this condition of the male pro- 
nucleus is shown in fig. 21. There was no radiate arrange- 
