194 DR. JAMES FOULIS. 



These fusiform bodies are about the size of the smallest 

 germ epithelial corpuscles, and appear like connective tissue 

 corpuscles, and in more than one case I have traced them in 

 direct continuity with delicate bundles of minute fusiform 

 bodies, which will presently be described as passing up from 

 the deeper parts, of the ovary towards the germ epithelium. 

 In other cases, however, it appears to me that the bodies 

 which lie in contact with the protoplasm of the primordial 

 ova are germ epithelial corpuscles which have been displaced, 

 pushed aside, or flattened out during the growth of the 

 primordial ova. No cell wall can be made out round these 

 primordial ova, but in certain sections one frequently sees 

 a thin irregular stratum of hyaline substance passing round 

 the young ovum in contact with its protoplasm, apparently 

 growing up from the young connective tissue subjacent to 

 the germ epithelium. In this hyaline substance two or three 

 oval-shaped nuclei are seen. In some preparations the pri- 

 mordial ovum has tumbled out of its hyaline girdle, which 

 remains like a ring standing up among the germ epithelial 

 corpuscles. 



In favorable specimens, in a single section of a three to 

 four weeks' old kitten's ovary, I have counted as many as 

 from thirty to forty large primordial ova among the ordinary 

 germ epithelium corpuscles on the surfoce of the ovary. 

 They may be recognised at once, for they appear like giants 

 among their neighbours. Each consists of a large spherical 

 nucleus, surrounded with a considerable layer of protoplasm ; 

 it is this latter substance which gives magnitude to the 

 young ovum, as may be seen by the fact that though many 

 of the nuclei of the larger germ epithelial corpuscles are 

 nearly as large as the nuclei of the primordial ova, yet, 

 being without the extensive investment of protoplasm, they 

 do not appear markedly conspicuous among the rest like the 

 primordial ova. Occasionally, two large spherical nuclei or 

 germinal vesicles are found in a single large primordial 

 ovum among the germ epithelial corpuscles on the surface of 

 the ovary. 



Among the germ epithelial corpuscles in the deeper parts 

 of the germ epithelial layer all round the ovary we meet 

 with many large primordial ova, and in contact with their 

 yelk or protoplasm are small fusiform bodies, each consisting 

 of an oval-shaped nucleus, around which is an investment of 

 protoplasm drawn out at either end in a fusiform manner. 

 Besides these primordial ova, numerous germ epithelial 

 corpuscles, in various stages of development into the same, 

 are found in this situation. 



