198 WILLIAM WALLACE. 



deatbj must have been about "4 mm. to '5 mm. in diameter. 

 At this stage of its development the egg would contain very 

 numerous oil globules but no yolk spheres. The theca folli- ' 

 culi is here no thicker than that ■which invests normal ova of 

 the same size. Separating the theca from the follicular 

 epithelium is^ as usualj the fine homogeneous membrana 

 propria folliculi. The condition of the follicular epithe- 

 lium is shown in fig. 20, It is several — about six to eight — 

 cells thick, except at one place (gr.), where the nuclei are on 

 an average two deep. Here the cells are close together as in 

 an ordinary epithelium. On either side of g. the epithelium 

 passes by insensible gradations into the thicker tissue (gr/), 

 lining the rest of the egg cavity, lu this cavity remains of a 

 degenerating egg are still present {e.L). In the thickened 

 portion of the follicular epithelium {gr.') the cell limits cannot 

 be distinguished, so that the tissue has the appearance of a 

 ground mass of finely granular protoplasm in which are 

 embedded numerous nuclei and vacuoles. The nuclei resemble 

 those of the turgid follicular epithelium mentioned above 

 when speaking of the degeneration of ova of a still earlier 

 stage. The nuclei in such conditions of the follicular epithe- 

 lium present a decided contrast to those of the surrounding 

 theca folliculi. The nuclei of the follicular epithelium 

 are larger, more granular, and have larger nucleoli. 



Some of the vacuoles in the substaucu of the proliferated 

 follicular epithelium are larger, mure rounded, and have a 

 sharper boundary than others. Doubtless the former repre- 

 sent oil globules which have been disengaged during the 

 dissolution of the egg, and have been dissolved out in the 

 course of preparation of the sections. Numerous oil vacuoles 

 are still to be seen in what remains of the egg (e. t.). The 

 follicular epithelium {gr.') is full of smaller, less sharply defined 

 vacuoles. These probably contained the fatty degeneration 

 products of the cytoplasm ot" the egg. At the })lace (g)'.) where 

 the granulosa is not more than two cells thick, and of a 

 more distinctly epithelial character, a fragment of the zona 

 is seen (2). The rest of the zona has disappeared, having 



