722 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION K. 



in the case of the latter. At present, my view is that the presence 

 of these bodies in the lemurs must be looked upon as an abnormal 

 condition, but that nevertheless the bodies are identical with those 

 present in the other species of animal discussed in this paper, and 

 have the same origin. Why they should be so constantly present 

 in the blood of lemurs is not so easy to explain. It may be that 

 the living lemurs were only apparently healthy, and that condi- 

 tions which resulted in the appearance of chromatin bodies in the 

 dead animals, although not actually the cause of death in the 

 latter, were existing in the living lemurs also. On the other hand, 

 if these bodies are normal to the blood of cats, as is held by Morris 

 (Joe. cit.), there is reason for admitting that the similar bodies in 

 lemurs may also ultimately be shown to be normal to the blood of 

 the latter. 



The Tragulid^. 

 Of three mouse 'deer examined, one showed chromatin bodies 

 in the red corpuscles, the other two were negative. The blood 

 of the latter was examined during life as well as post mortem, also 

 with negative results. In connexion with this species of animal, 

 a point of interest, and perhaps of some value, becomes evident. 

 It has already been stated that the red corpuscles of the mouse 

 deer are only about 2.5 microns in diameter, that is, only about 

 a third of the size of those of "the other species of animal examined. 

 As if to correspond with this, the chromatin bodies found therein 

 were also very small as compared with the average body found in 

 the erythrocytes of the other animals. This can be readily appre- 

 ciated on comparing Fig. No. 4 with Figures 1, 2 and 3. All are 

 «drawn to exactly the same scale, with the camera lucida. If these 

 bodies were parasitic, it would be a coincidence to find the smaller 

 parasite choosing for its habitat the animal with the smaller 

 erythrocyte. Would not the true explanation be that, as the 

 nuclei of the erythroblasts of the mouse deer v/ould be of a rela- 

 tively smaller size than those of the other animals in correspon- 

 dence with the size of the cell itself, so the fragments resulting 

 from tlie disintegration of the nucleus would also be relatively 

 smaller than those present in the larger red cells of other animals? 



The Quadrumana. 



There appears no reason for doubting that the chromatin 

 bodies present in the blood both of the Capuchin monkey and 

 the Orang-utan were nuclear remnants. I have already given 

 my opinion as to why they could not be staphylococci in the case 

 of the former, and the evidence in favour of the nuclear remnants 

 appears to be pretty conclusive in the case of the latter, where 

 by examination of the bone marrow, all the steps from the frag- 

 mentation of the nucleus to the presence of only one small body 

 in the erythrocyte could be demonstrated. 



