96 BULLETIN OF THE 



Hohlgebilde "), but apparently solid pale processes of the epithelial cells, 

 on which the anastomosing filaments found by Miiller were visible. 

 Kolliker did not doubt, however, that they were from the beginning- 

 hollow cell processes, but they still contained at the time of their forma- 

 tion cell contents, and only subsequently became clear. Their indepen- 

 dent nature was shown by the fact that in chromic preparations they 

 could be drawn out from the jelly without losing their union with the 

 [rest of the] epithelial cells. As long as the eggs remained in the fol- 

 licle the epithelial cells probably continued in union with the tubules ; 

 but at the liberation of the eggs the cell bodies probably fell off, with 

 the exception of the walls, which were continuous with the tubules, and 

 then constituted the hexagonal facets of Miiller. Kolliker was able to 

 produce a similar effect by artificially separating the cells from the 

 capsule. 



Ransom ('68, p. 455, Plate XVI.), who does not seem to have been 

 acquainted with the papers of either Reichert or Kolliker, compares the 

 capsular membrane in consistence with fresh fibrine. " The striae look 

 like tubes, have a distinct double contour for each wall (Fig. 28), but are 

 filled with a vacuolating material, and do not seem to convey anything 

 into or out of the egg." The outer surface was thrown into folds which 

 radiated from the ends of the " tubes," but the hexagonal markings seen 

 by Miiller could not be made out. The tubes, instead of being funnel- 

 shaped, at their inner terminations divided into root-like processes, and 

 were in some way intimately adherent to the outside of the dotted yolk- 

 sac (zona). The clear matrix was elastic and concentrically laminated. 

 " The appearance described by Miiller, of oil granules passing through 

 the tubes, may possibly have been due to vacuolation in them." Experi- 

 ments with colored fluids to ascertain if there were any absorption of 

 fluids along the "tubes" always gave negative results: the cleavage 

 went on, the yolk-sac was dyed throughout, the clear matrix more than 

 the tubes, the germinal mass not at all. Either, therefore, the tubes 

 did not subserve imbibition at all, he contends, or in a much smaller 

 degree than the clear matrix. 



Waldeyer's ('70, p. 81) conclusion about the origin of the zona from 

 the granulosa appears to me to have resulted, in part at least, from the 

 fact that he was unable to discover any essential difference between it 

 and the capsular membrane of the perch. He says the latter does not 

 differ from the former in the principle of its structure. He rightly adds, 

 that "here [capsule] it is to be seen with the greatest distinctness that 

 the filaments are connected with the subsequently somewhat degenerated 



