1 66 MUNSON. [Vol. XV. 



be connected with a body lying close to the germinal vesicle, 

 the nature of which will be considered later. The polar mito- 

 some is perhaps a remnant of the spindle of the last division of 

 the oogonia, comparable to a similar structure observed by Plat- 

 ner ('86) in the sperm cells of Helix, and by Bolles Lee ('95), or 

 to the Zellkoppel of Zimmermann ('9i). 



At the junction of the egg with the epithelial cells these 

 fibers are firmly bound together by a body which is prominent 

 in the younger eggs especially, and which stains deeply in acid 

 fuchsin and eosin. In Heidenhain's iron-haematoxylin it stains 

 very deeply, somewhat like the peripheral bodies, which are to 

 be considered presently. If haematoxylin be followed with 

 eosin, it appears as a doubly convex, bright-red body. In many 

 cases sections through its center show the form of a ring. In 

 the younger eggs it is large and conspicuous. It resembles 

 very closely the so-called "Zwischenkorper" of Flemming ('9i), 

 which by him was homologized with the cell plate in plants. A 

 similar body was observed by van Beneden in the egg of Ascaris, 

 by Hertwig in Spirochona, by Carnoy ('85) in the spermatocytes 

 of Arthropods, and by Henking ('91) in the spermatocytes of 

 insects. This body does not perhaps differ materially from the 

 numerous peripheral bodies which later make their appearance, 

 and which, as we shall see, give rise to the first layer of the 

 egg membrane. As the latter seem to be aggregations of little 

 spherical bodies, which are the first indications of a forming 

 egg membrane, so this polar body appears likewise to be a 

 concentration of such granules. 



The cytoplasm. — The cytoplasm consists of at least two 

 distinct elements — a living formed element and a non-living 

 amorphous element (Watas6). The former has the form of a 

 reticulum of variously interwoven fibers, which show a central- 

 ized arrangement at the center of the egg. This will be dis- 

 cussed more fully in connection with the attraction sphere and 

 centrosome. The living substance appears to have many of the 

 characteristics of a sponge, in the lacunae, vacuoles, and meshes 

 of which the various amorphous elements are lodged. 



The yolk. — The yolk lies either massed together at differ- 

 ent points, or else uniformly distributed throughout the egg. 



