STRUCTURE OF CERTAIN CHROMOSOMES i} 
We have now to inquire to what extent they are present in 
other phases ; and this with special reference to the assertion of 
Bonnevie and Vejdovsky that at the telophase one part 
of the chromosome axis is cast out into the new karyoplasm, 
whilst another persists as a spirally coiled thread which forms 
the rudiment of the new chromosome. 
At the end of the anaphase the ‘ daughter-star ’ of chromo- 
somes contracts into a figure which is called by some the 
‘tassement polaire ’,a term which we may translate by polar 
clump. Inthis clump (figs. 29 to 34) the chromosomes become 
so densely crowded, and even agglutinated together, that it is 
impossible to follow out their minute details with accuracy 
throughout (in the Amphibia: in some other groups the case 
may be different). Still, enough can be seen in suitably fixed 
clumps, such as those of figs. 80 and 31, to warrant the assertion 
that the essential features of the chromosomes persist. In 
fig. 80, for instance, the chromosome axes can in many places be 
made out, appearing as thin threads (therefore considerably 
shrunken) collocated im pairs (an important detail, the dis- 
cussion of which is best reserved for Part IT). The periaxial 
spirals can just be detected on some of them; and on others, 
where they cannot be seen as lines wound round the shaft, 
their presence is made probable by the lateral processes which 
can be seen on their edges. And towards the ends of the chromo- 
somes, wherever they stand clear, the sheath membrane can 
generally be made out as a fine line bridging over the tips of 
the processes. The sheath can indeed generally be seen round 
the edges of even highly-agelutinated clumps, figs. 32, 33, 34. 
In fig. 831 (Bombinator) these details can only just be 
slimpsed here and there, on account of the smaller size of the 
elements ; but indubitably exist there as described for fig. 30. 
We may conclude that at the height of the clump stage the 
chromosomes—though generally much shrunken, compressed, 
crumpled, and otherwise distorted—have more or less retained 
all their essential features. 
This stage is of short duration, the clump soon passing by 
a process of expansion (to be explained in Part I) mto the 
