No. 2.] THE OVARIAN EGG OF LIMULUS. 185 



blue or green sphere of interwoven fibrils, in the center of 

 which may be found one or several red granules arranged more 

 or less in a circle (Fig. 49). By means of this double stain, 

 the body can be seen in all stages up to the time of the forma- 

 tion of the egg membrane (PI. XV, Fig. 79), when the changes 

 in the cytoplasm render the carmine and safranin ineffectual. 

 But even in this case it can often appear very distinctly on 

 account of its greater affinity for the blue, and its consequent 

 deeper stain. In most cases of this kind it appears as a defi- 

 nite, spherical, compact body, consisting of closely interwoven 

 fibers that may at times show a concentric arrangement about 

 a somewhat modified central body (PL XV, Fig. 75). There 

 may be two of these central bodies (PI. XIV, Fig. 58). They 

 appear somewhat like nuclei, each being surrounded by a com- 

 pact layer of the outer mass of fibers. 



In comparatively small eggs stained with various stains, such 

 as the Biondi-Ehrlich mixture or haematoxylin, either alone 

 or followed with acid fuchsin, the fibers of the cytoreticulum 

 can be seen to converge to a point near the center of the egg 

 (Figs. 50, 51, 54, 55). At the point where the fibers meet, a 

 highly refractive body staining deep red in acid fuchsin can be 

 seen. At times when the cytoreticulum is particularly dis- 

 tinct, the body is comparatively small and regular (Figs. 50, 

 51, 54). When the cytoplasm is more granular, the body may 

 be comparatively large, apparently composed of refractive 

 granules closely packed, and either regular in outline or ser- 

 rated by projecting processes comparable to the points of a 

 star, the body being very conspicuous because of its greater 

 affinity for the stain than the rest of the cytoplasm, the reticu- 

 lum of which can be seen to have a somewhat indistinct radial 

 arrangement with reference to it (Fig. 56). 



In favorable cases, when the cytoreticulum is especially dis- 

 tinct, the body towards which the fibers of the cytoreticulum 

 converge appears as a ring of dense fibers, the reticular nature 

 of which can, however, be distinctly seen (PI. XIV, Fig. 32). 

 Within this ring is a delicate network of fibers with distinct 

 microsomes at the nodes, and from the ring surrounded by the 

 cytoreticulum, comparatively straight isolated fibers radiate into 



