714 C. CLIFFORD DOBELL. 
subsequent formation, Iam unable to say with certainty. It 
appears to me probable that the refractive granules are 
directly transmuted into pigment. In organisms which 
have degenerated to a considerable extent, a great deal of 
pigment may be present in the nucleus (see text-fig. D, 2). 
As degeneration proceeds, the nucleus becomes again 
modified. It tends to become a more uniformly staining mass 
(text-fi2. C, 2), losing its foldings and distinct peripheral 
thickening. It seems to be undergoing a process of dissolu- 
tion at this stage. From the fact that many such nuclei were 
found lying freely in the gut of the host (together with 
TExT-FIG. C. 
Degeneration nuclei. 
enucleate amocbee), it seems probable that the nucleus may be 
bodily ejected from the cell at this period. However, I have 
not observed this in the living animal.! 
Certainly, in many cases the nucleus now undergoes absorp- 
tion—the process proceeding until only the granules of brown 
pigment are left (text-fig. H, 1). These amoebe are still quite 
active, and have a very curious appearance whilst alive. 
Kven the pigment, however, may totally disappear, and 
amoebee result which show no vestiges of the nucleus which 
was originally present (see text-fig. MH, 2). These enucleate 
forms in their last stages, contain practically no food material, 
It is remarkable that, although in early stages of degeneration 
the amoebee are often full of food bodies in various stages of 
' Prandtl (11) describes this as occurring in Ameba proteus. 
