SPERMATOGENESIS OF PANDARUS SINUATUS. 117 



chromatin globules. Some chromatin globules are found in the 

 spaces between the spheres and become pressed out of shape by 

 a pressure that transforms the nutritive spheres into polyhedrons. 

 In spermatophores which are attached to the female, the sub- 

 stance of this nutritive layer is often found to have disappeared, 

 leaving a structure resembling thin evacuated cell walls. 



It would be interesting to know the chemical composition of 

 the nutritive spheres. Heider ('79) probably supposed them to 

 be mucilaginous, as he called them "austreibestoff." In some 

 mosses there is found a mucilaginous substance in the antheridia, 

 which swells in the presence of water and forces the spermatozoa 

 out. A similar function was attributed to these spheres in Cope- 

 pods by Heider, but I have found no evidence that such is the 

 case. When the spermatophores are attached to the female, 

 direct communication is formed with the receptaculum semenis, 

 and there is no reason to believe that the spermatozoa could not 

 enter the receptaculum by their own efforts. If there is a secre- 

 tion in the receptaculum that would stimulate the spermatozoa 

 into movement, it would diffuse into the spermatophore and be 

 effective there. I have tried staining reactions on these spheres 

 but can say only that they have a less affinity for plasma stains 

 than the yolk spherules of most eggs, and that they are not of a 

 fatty nature. 



The position of the spermatozoa in relation to them and the 

 fact that their substance disappears finally, led me to assume that 

 they furnished nourishment for the spermatozoa. It has long 

 been held that the nucleus influenced the assimilation in the cell, 

 but so far as I know, the idea that the nucleus could form a 

 store-house for the nourishment of other cells is new. I hesitated 

 in putting forward such a view in my previous paper, hoping to 

 discover a cytoplasmic origin of these spheres, but such seems not 

 to be the case. In Peripatus the spermatozoa appear to draw 

 nourishment from the nuclei of degenerated spermatids, but it is 

 probable that such is the case in any testis in which cell degenera- 

 tion occurs. In Pelomyxa, Goldschmidt ('06) describes the forma- 

 tion of " Glanzkorper " of the plasmosomes extruded from the 

 nucleus. These " Glanzkorper " are supposed to be glycogen. In 

 the method by which my sections were prepared, glycogen, if 

 present, would probably be entirely washed out. 



