December 13, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



833 



the rule, but is also opposed to individual 

 action in the matter. 



One opposes the rule because " it [opposi- 

 tion to the rule] is the position occupied by 

 practically all of the zoologists of the German 

 Empire." 



One votes in the negative because sys- 

 tematists in whom he has confidence complain 

 of the working of the rule. 



One, although opposed to the rule, is in 

 favor of " some sound, workable set of rules." 



There were two voters who declined to vote 

 because they were not systematists and be- 

 lieved that they should have no voice in the 

 matter. 



In summing up it seems evident that an 

 overwhelming majority of the zoologists of 

 the Central Branch are opposed to the strict 

 application of the priority rule; that a clear 

 majority of systematists in a broad sense are 

 opposed to it; and that at least half of the 

 systematists in a strict sense are opposed to it. 



The undersigned give it as their personal 

 opinion that the wishes of the non-system- 

 atists, users of zoological names, should have 

 some weight in the formulation of rules of 

 nomenclature, as they will certainly have 

 much weight in the acceptance of names and 

 their incorporation into the general literature 

 of the science of zoology. 



C. C. Nutting 



S. W. WiLLISTON 



Henry B. Ward 



SPECIAL ABTICLES 



FAT DEPOSITION IN THE TESTIS OF THE 

 DOMESTIC FOWL ' 



Various investigators have concluded that 

 the presence of fat in the interstitial tissues 

 of the primary sexual organs (ovary and 

 testis) was evidence of a functional (secre- 

 tory) activity of the interstitial cells. This 

 view regarding an internal secretion of the 

 testis was advocated by Ganfini." Whitehead,' 



' Papers from the Biological Laboratory of the 

 Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. 



^Ganfini, C, "La struttura e lo sviluppo delle 

 cellule interstiziale del testicolo, " Arch. ital. Anat. 

 ed Emiriol., Vol. I., 1902. 



while not committing himself definitely on the 

 point, nevertheless shows that his earlier criti- 

 cism of Ganfini's theory, on the ground that 

 the fatty substance in the testis had not been 

 shown to be anything other than ordinary 

 neutral fat, was not altogether well taken. 

 Schaeffer* makes the presence of fat, as re- 

 vealed by staining, the chief test of functional 

 interstitial glands in the ovary. One of the 

 present writers in a recent paper from this 

 laboratory'^ has shown that a histological study 

 of the chicken testis gives " no evidence that 

 the fat in the active testis is formed by the 

 interstitial cells." It is further suggested in 

 the same paper that " this fat is being brought 

 to the testis by the general metabolic proc- 

 esses, possibly in connection with sexual ac- 

 tivity, just as fat is deposited in the yolk of 

 eggs in the hen." 



It seemed desirable to test further, and by 

 direct physiological experiment, this conclu- 

 sion and suggestion. Particularly informa- 

 tion was needed on the following points: (a) 

 Is circulating fat deposited in the testis, as it 

 is known to be in the yolk of developing 

 oocytes? (h) If so, does such deposition de- 

 pend in any way upon the functional sexual 

 activity of the organ? (c) Is circulating fat 

 deposited in the ovary prior to the time of 

 rapid growth of the oocytes by yolk formation ? 



To obtain answers to these questions a 

 series of experiments was planned by the 

 writers and carried out last spring. The re- 

 sults are reported in this paper. It is known 

 from the work of Riddle" and others that the 



^ Whitehead, E. H., ' ' A Microchemical Study of 

 the Fatty Bodies in the Interstitial Cells of the 

 Testis," Anat. Bee, Vol. 6, pp. 65-73, 1912. 



' Schaeffer, Anna, ' ' Vergleichend histologische 

 TJntersuchungen Tiber die interstitielle Eierstocks- 

 druse," Arch. f. Gynalc., Bd. 94, pp. (of reprint) 

 1-51, Taf. XVII. 



' Boring, A. M., ' ' The Interstitial Cells and the 

 Supposed Internal Secretion of the Chicken Tes- 

 tis," Biol. Bui., Vol. XXIII., pp. 141-153, 1912. 



° Riddle, O., "On the Formation, Significance 

 and Chemistry of the White and Yellow Yolk of 

 Ova," Jour. Morph., Vol. 22, pp. 455-491, 1911. 



