No. 2.] THE OVARIAN EGG OF LIMULUS. 193 



But is it derived from the young germinal vesicle? It exists 

 before a nucleolus has made its appearance in the germinal 

 vesicle. In this early stage the contents of the germinal ves- 

 icle and the granular cytoplasm stain a deep red in carmine or 

 safranin. If one of these stains be properly associated with 

 Lyon's blue, the centrosphere with its archoplasm stains a deep 

 blue, the rest of the egg, both nucleus and cytoplasm, being 

 bright red. The blue body is then observed as a conspicuous 

 crescent-shaped structure partly enclosing the germinal vesicle. 

 In the broadest portion of this crescent-shaped body the 

 structure of the sphere and an enclosed centrosome, described 

 above, can be seen (Figs. 42-47). The horns of the blue 

 crescent appear to be due to an extension of the archoplasm of 

 the sphere and an aggregation along the sides of the young 

 germinal vesicle of the radial fibers belonging to the sphere. 

 The blue crescent, although lying close to the germinal vesicle, 

 is sharply differentiated from all parts of it, and is also at first 

 sharply differentiated from the cytoplasm (Figs. 34, 38), 

 although it later grades gradually into it. The red stain of the 

 contents of the germinal vesicle and cytoplasm is due to the 

 presence of granules of the nuclear network and the granules 

 of the cytoplasm that are strongly affected by the carmine or 

 safranin. The blue stain of the crescent-shaped sphere and 

 archoplasm I would interpret as indicating an absence of the 

 chromophilous granules. The nucleolus, when present, is also 

 strongly affected by the carmine and safranin stains. When 

 these stains alone are employed, the body remains obscure 

 because of the absence of staining in that region ; and one 

 might easily, in such a case, be led to say that the body is not 

 present. If, however, the carmine be followed with picric acid, 

 the body comes into view as a yellowish body instead of the 

 blue of the former double staining. There being present none 

 of those granules which carmine so strongly affects, and which 

 are the distinguishing features of chromatin of the nucleus, 

 there is no ground on which to base the statement that this 

 body originates from the germinal vesicle. Its form also will 

 hardly admit the statement that it is a bud of the germinal 

 vesicle. Furthermore, such a bud would necessarily contain 



