in ilif Aiiiiinil Kiit(j(J(>m. .•>()5 



Accortliiiii,- to the |)i('S('iit .stage of our investigalions we 

 may assert that the amitotic dirision of the. viic/eus alwai/s 

 itnh'rates the end oj the series of divisions. Where this mode 

 of division a))pears, only a limited number of divisions, or oidy 

 very few, or none at all take ])lace, while the nuclei which 

 divide by mitosis possess an unlimited capacity for multipli- 

 cation for the whole duration of the life of the individual, it 

 is even h priori hardly ])robable that nuclei which have arisen 

 by amitotic division will ever divide again by mitosis; for in 

 amitotic miclear division the distribution of the chromatin 

 takes i)lace in a rough and usually very irregular fashion ; in 

 consequence of this, mitosis, which effects a methodical and 

 altogether equable division of the chromatin, would subse- 

 quently have no importance at all and no further value, or it 

 would at least remain quite unintelligible. 



Flemming shows {loc. cit.) that, in tlie amitotic division of 

 the nuclei of leucocytes, in connexion with the constriction of 

 the nucleus a division of the attraction-sphere and of its central 

 bodi/ does not take ]>lace *. Into connexion with the absence 

 of this division it is perhaps possible to bring the fact that 

 division of the cell does not usually follow amitotic nuclear 

 division. As Flcmming remarks, further investigations will 

 have to decide whether, in those cases in whicii amitotic 



* This observation gives au importaut support to the view that the 

 processes of amitotic unclear division and of branching of the nuclei are 

 connected with and merge into one another ; the unnsual size also is a 

 feature common buth to the nuclei which are branched and to those 

 which divide without mitosis. Korschelt (" Beitrage zur Morphologic 

 und Physiologie des Zellkerns," Zool. Jahrbiiclier, Abteilung fur Anat. 

 und Ontogenie, Bd. iv., 188U) has shown in comprehen^^ive fashion that 

 branched nuclei frequently occur in cells such as tho^e in which an intense 

 secretion takes place. The branching of the nuclei points to the fact that 

 they have adapted themselves to a large extent to the specialized physio- 

 logical function, and this far-reaching adaptation involves the destruction 

 of the nuclei alter a longer or shorter interval. That there is a phvsio- 

 logical and morphological connexion between the amitotic divi.--ion and 

 the branching of the nuclei is also to be deduced from the fact that they fre- 

 quently occur side by side ; for instance, in some preparations of the whole 

 of thealimenlary canal of Porceltiu scaler (which iJr. vom Rath most kindly 

 allowed me to examine) I observed that the nuclei of the epithelium of 

 the po.'^terior half of the mid-gut exhibited manifold ramifications and 

 here and there the figures of direct division. 1 would remark in passing 

 that forms of nuclei such as we meet with in this instance have been 

 described and figured by van Bambeke (" Des deformations artificiellea 

 du Noyau,'" Archives de Biologie, t. vii., 1887), but that I am unable to 

 discuss his paper further, because I am not perfectly clear as to what van 

 Bambeke wishes to convi>y by the expression '' Deformation artiHcielle." 



It will perhaps be advisable to make a subdi^^sion for those cases of 

 amitotic nuclear division which occur in conjunction with branching of 

 the nuclei. 



