1 914 1 Snook-Long: Parasynapsis in Aneides lugubris 513 



be excellently demonstrated with safranin and gentian violet 

 after Zenker's or Bouin's solutions. Material fixed^jn Flem- 

 ming's solution was stained either with safranin and gentian 

 violet after the Gram method, or with iron-alum-haematoxylin 

 and orange G. Gilson's fluid was followed by safranin and 

 lightgreen. 



A few testes, fixed in Flemming 's solution and passed through 

 the alcohols to seventy per cent, were divided into four or five 

 parts which were transferred with a drop of alcohol to slides 

 prepared with egg albumen and then thoroughly crushed and 

 ground up under a cover glass. The seventy per cent alcohol 

 was then drawn off and the albumen coagulated by dropping 

 ninety per cent alcohol upon it, fixing the fragments and loose 

 cells to the glass. The material thus prepared was carried 

 through the alcohols and stained either in iron-alum-haema- 

 toxylin without counterstains, or in safranin with gentian violet. 

 While many of the cells were broken up, or flattened out, a 

 considerable number remained intact. Because of their large 

 size they are somewhat opaque, but most of them are clear enough 

 for study. This method destroys every evidence of seriation and 

 for that reason is not of great value by itself, yet, taken in 

 connection with the sectioned material, it has been found very 

 useful. This type of preparation, in which the structures are 

 entire, was most largely used in the determination of the number 

 of chromosomes previous to the first maturation division. 



THE SPERMATOGONIA 



The anterior portion of the testis is occupied by spermatogonia 

 and occasionally lobules may be seen which are filled entirely, 

 or in part, with cells in the process of division. Among these 

 it is possible to pick out polar views of the equatorial plate. By 

 first carefully drawing them with the aid of a camera lucida, 

 and then counting the chromosomes shown in the resulting sketch, 

 the number and form were determined. It was not always pos- 

 sible to demonstrate each element clearly, owing to the sinuous 

 form of many of the chromosomes and the tendency for them 

 to gather in clumps, more or less masking those below; and in 



