388 TKAXSACTIOXS AND PKOCEEDINGS OF [Sess. lvi. 



case I believe the endonucleolar fibrils probably to pass through 

 the finer pores in the nuclear membrane {p. /3 fig. 48). 



The fibrils have been represented in the diagram as 

 sending branches to the achromatic network of a chromosome 

 ichr.) before they pierce the nuclear membrane, and, after 

 they have entered the cytoplasm, to form anastomoses, and 

 ultimately to project through the cell-wall, either to com- 

 municate with similar fibrils orio-inating in the endonucleoli 

 of neighbouring cells, or with the medium surrounding the 

 cell in question. 



What relation the-tubular nuclear filaments (fig. 45, n.f.), 

 along the sides of which the central chromosomes occur, have 

 to the endonucleolar filaments I was unable to make out, but as 

 the number of the nuclear strands is comparatively very small, 

 while the endonucleolar filaments occur in large numbers, I 

 am inclined to believe that these two sets of strands exist 

 independently of one another in tlie nucleus, meaning by the 

 term independent, that each of the main strands pursues its 

 own course, having special functions to fulfil. 



In what way the nuclear " chromatin " is governed by the 

 endonucleolar matter I was unable to make out, but con- 

 jecture that the endonucleolar filaments constitute the linin 

 element of the chromosomes, a hypothesis which would allow 

 us to understand how the chromosomes are influenced by the 

 endonucleolar matter. 



Quite recently Fayod"" has written a paper on the struc- 

 ture of living protoplasm. By both injecting vegetable and 

 animal cells with powdered indigo or carmine, and by 

 allowing cells to absorb these substances intra vitam, the 

 author has come to the following conclusions : — 



The " hyaloplasm " of Hofmeister, de Bary, Leydig, or 

 " paraplasm " of Kupfer, or " chylema " of Strasburger, the 

 " interfilar Substanz " or " paramitom " of Flemming, the 

 " interfilar Substanz " of Altmann, &c., consists of a reti- 

 culated framework of strands called " spirospartes," each of 

 which shows two spiral tubes or "spirofibrilles " surrounding 

 a central axis-cylinder, wliich latter also possesses a spiral 

 structure. 



The spirofibrilles equal in diameter the Spirillum tenue, 



* M. V. Fayod in Rev. Geu. de Bot. (Bonuicr), iii. (1891), pp. 193-228, pi. 

 xiv. 



