70 . W. .1. DAKIN. 



The cells vary considerably in sliape. Those near the 

 surface of the lens, ])articularly the proximal surface, are 

 flattened and are strap-shaped (PL 7, fig. 0, c), or are con- 

 stricted in the middle and have two bulging ends. The 

 length may be very considerable. The common appeaiance 

 is that depicted in fig. 5 (Fl. 7). The cells are pyriform, with 

 the cell-body drawn out into extraordinary long tapering pro- 

 cesses many times the length of the swollen part. In addition 

 to this, processes are often given off very abruptly from the 

 broad end. Other cells are more rectangular, yet also with 

 rounded contours and the same abrupt fine processes, 

 'i'hese extensions are wedged between adjacent cells (PI. 7, 

 fig. 5), which fit close together, and the result is a mass of 

 great compactness, whose components, though having the 

 most varied shape, fit together without intercellular spaces 

 being left between them. 



It is often quite difficult to separate some of the cells in 

 macerations. It is now qnite obvious why there appears to 

 be no nucleus in many cells in sections, for it may be at one 

 end and the cell be so long that many sections may cut 

 through the latter without touching the nucleus. 



The cells have a very distinct membrane, and it is difficult 

 to imagine how this could have been missed by Rawitz and 

 Schreiuer, especially after Carriere. had asserted its presence. 

 It is easier now to understand why there is no need of a lens- 

 capsule or supporting ligament, for the soft protoplasmic cells 

 are tied together by their processes and the superficial cells are 

 practically converted into fibres or straps. The contour of 

 the lens is, in fact, as even as if formed by a connective-tissue 

 sheath or a layer of pavement epithelial cells. The cell 

 contents are finely granular, with a slight trace of pigment, 

 and stain intensely Avith eosin. The nuclei are similar in 

 size to those of the epithelial cells, and since the lens-cells 

 are usually somewhat larger than the latter the nuclei can 

 hardly be termed pretty large (Schreiuer), though such 

 terms are purely arbitrary. Hesse (34) discovered in the 

 lens-cells of P. jacobajus, which had been fixed in sublimate 



