1898.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 55 



Chloride. It does not appear to be supplied with nerves 

 although nerve filaments may be seen running to the 

 very edge of the cornea and communicating with the 

 pigmented epithelial cells surrounding the eye. 



The Lens. — The lens is an oblong, oval body and oc- 

 pies nearly one-half of the globe of the eye. I have 

 never been able to make out any capsule. If one exists 

 it must be exceedingly fine. It seems to simply occupy 

 the space between the cornea anteriorly and the expan- 

 sion of the optic nerve posteriorly. Its structure is cel- 

 lular, being made up of irregular, polygonal, nucleated 

 cells. 



The cells along the front border are larger than the 

 others and more nearly round while those around the 

 margin and back toward the retina are oblong and 

 spindle shaped. There is no space between the lens in 

 front and the cornea and it appears posteriorly to lie in 

 close opposition to the ganglion nerve cells of the inner 

 border of the retina, or the membrana limitans interna. 



The equatorial diameter of the lens is slighly greater 

 than the corneal opening, the average measurements 

 being 1-50 inch long, or iu the equatorial direction, and 

 1-100 inch, thick or in the polar direction of the eye. In 

 fresh eyes the cells of the lens are nearly regular, hexa- 

 gonal in shape, united together at the edges. In the 

 central portions the cells measure 1-1200 inch in diame- 

 ter ; on the outer edge from 1-1000 to 1-800 inch in 

 diameter while the longer cells measure 1-2000 inch 

 wide by 1-500 inch long. 



The Optic or Retinal nerve. — Along the border of the 

 mantle there is a nerve which runs just back of the eyes, 

 and from this nerve are given oflf branches, one of which 

 runs to each eye. Just previous to its approach to the 

 eye it divides into two nearly equal parts one of which 

 is the retinal or optic nerve proper. The optic nerve 

 maintains its integrity although it pursues a tortuous 



