THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 295 



though he has occasionally seen large bodies of this kind 

 existing singly within representatives of the genus Kol- 

 poda, and also in specimens of Kerona. He says 1 : 

 c I have observed this in Kolpodas, which, judging from 

 their great size, appeared to have arrived at their last 

 stages of life.' He states, moreover, that two or three 

 times he saw such c Kolpodas with their bodies half 

 opened, though still having the egg in the midst of 

 the disorganized structure.' In animals about -g-JV' in 

 length the germ varied in size from ^-gV' to 



FIG. 68. 

 Development of Embryos in dying Kerona. (Pouchet.) 



It was altogether an unmistakeable sort of body., situated 

 near the middle of the animal, and made up of a dense 

 aggregation of fine granules bounded by a transparent 

 vitelline membrane or z,ona pellucida. It was also en- 

 tirely free within the substance of the organism in 

 which no trace of an ovarium was to be discovered. 

 In exceptional cases M. Pouchet has seen two other 

 smaller though otherwise similar bodies, adjoining the 

 more fully developed ovum. He has never, however, 

 seen more than three within any single animal, and has 



1 H&drog&iie,' p. 400. 



