No. 2.] SPINNING ACTIVITIES OF PROTOPLASM. 383 
viscid, hanging line of protoplasm, had not the existing condi- 
tions negatived this view. The arc line was in fact far more 
dense and refractive, also thicker than the angled lines between 
which it held its place ; and it did not hang. 
Appearances were far more in favor of its being this line 
which bent the longer lines into their angles. Yet in such a 
state of tension, how explain the curve? I have dwelt at 
length upon this single phenomenon because it is typical of 
the difficulties which everywhere beset physical and mechanical 
interpretations when one brings them into contact with the facts 
of the living substance. 
The hyaline substance of the polar bodies frequently flowed 
along the filaments of the egg, and gathering together at some 
point spun characteristic brush and skein formations, or made 
nodes for diverse sorts of protoplastic phenomena. 
It was a noteworthy feature of the polar spinnings that they 
so frequently grouped themselves in spindle-shaped bundles, 
and showed a marked vesicular structure in their substance 
at most times except during certain changes of viscosity. 
Concentric chains and lines of vesicles gave often by their ar- 
rangement the aspect of a spindle to the whole polar body, which 
the outline of the mass at the same time emphasized. In the 
brush and spindle-like spinning products there was often a very 
distinct chain-like arrangement of vesicles forming the threads. 
These were of course the larger and more stable processes. 
Description of the filose phenomena of these eggs is an 
almost inexhaustible subject, and I give only the more patent 
phenomena. 
The activities of the polar bodies did not decrease as time 
passed after their extrusion from the egg, but rather increased, 
both as to amount and as to the controlled and ordered nature 
of the phenomena. 
In other words, instead of their losing at all their individu- 
ality and becoming more like non-living and excreted substances, 
they rather gained than lost in independence of action and the 
vigor and vitality of their organized activities. 
Whether this were due to some influence exerted upon them 
by the intimate connection of the egg spinnings with them, 
