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1898-99. | ON THE CYTOLOGY OF NON-NUCLEATED ORGANISMS. 451 
Zacharias’ confirms his earlier observations, except as to the presence 
of nuclein in the central body, of which he is doubtful. He regards the 
central body as differing in important points from the nucleus of other 
organisms. 
Fischer, in his recent publication, gives the results of a more extended 
series of observations on the structure of the Cyanophycee and Bacteria. 
His first statement is a withdrawal of the view which he held that the 
“central body” of Biitschli arose through plasmolytic contraction of the 
contents of the cell, brought about by the hardening reagents used. He 
finds, however, that Biitschli’s description of the granules is far from 
exact. In many of the forms hematoxylin colours some of the granules 
blue, others red, in other forms all the granules may be coloured blue, 
while sometimes again the granules may be stained red only. In 
Biitschli’s opinion the reserve granules, the “cyanophycin” granules of 
Palla, do not stain with hematoxylin and, therefore, the granules which 
colour blue with this dye, do not, according to Fischer, come into 
Biitschli’s classification of the granules. Fischer also found that all the 
granules stain blue with hematoxylin after treatment with soda 
solutions. On the other hand the “cyanophycin” granules in Osczllaria 
tenuts, after fixation with alcoholic iodine solutions, do not stain with 
hematoxylin, but they will do so if hardened with a four per cent. 
solution of formol. The granules do not disappear after artificial 
digestion (in pepsin and hydrochloric acid), nor on treatment with a ten 
per cent. soda solution. From all these facts he concludes that the 
differences in the staining power of the granules are due, not to differ- 
ences in chemical composition of the granules, but to their physical 
properties, and that the tests upon which Biitschli relied to show that 
the “red” granules are composed of chromatin are valueless. He 
regards the substance entering into the composition of all the granules 
as an assimilation product or a reserve material. 
In regard to Palla’s contention that granules do not occur in the 
“central body,” Fischer found them in this organ as well as in its peri- 
phery. None were observed in what he calls the chromatophore, the 
zone of coloured protoplasm surrounding the “central body.” Granules 
exist outside this zone and, particularly, adjacent to the transverse septa, 
a fact which leads Fischer to believe in the existence of a -plasma zone 
outside the chromatophore. The independent existence of the latter 
organ he claims is shown by the results of treatment with hydrofluoric 
1 ‘On the Cells of the Cyanophycez,’’ Report of the British Association, Liverpool Meeting, 1896, 
p. 1021, 
2 ‘Untersuchungen iiber den Bauder Cyanophyceen und Bacterien,” Jena, 1897. 
