398 blMORPHlSM IN PTYCHObERA CAPENsIS. 
already stated, and it was found tlmt the well-developed gonads consisted 
mostly of globules alone, the eggs being only present, and in diminished 
numbers, in some cases. 
The functions of globules in this case seem obvious, namely, the sustenance 
and growth of the non-feeding P. proliferans, and of the buds, till they 
reached the feeding stage. 
The origin of globules and ova may best be studied in sections of P. ca- 
'pensis at a stage when the gonads are beginning to appear as small yellow 
streaks in the genital wings, and their early stages may be seen at the 
extremities of their lobate ramifications. The gonads are surrounded with a 
layer of cells with elongate nuclei. The developing ova occur just within 
this layer. They are of irregular amoeboid shape, and the germinal vesicle 
is already well marked. Alongside of the ova, and apparently arising from 
the same peripheral epithelium, are other cells, the outlines of which are not 
well marked, containing lenticular nuclei like those of the outer layer, and 
numerous small globules. In the older parts of the gonads the globules 
constitute a solid mass, sometimes with many scattered and disintegrated 
nuclei, and, in still later stageSj only a mass of globules, some small and 
some comparatively large, the latter being most probably formed by con- 
fluence of the smaller. No globules were seen in the body of the ovum, 
whichj when mature, is surrounded by a zone of clear tissue with radiating 
lines. It appears to be a reasonable inference that the granules are produced 
by modified germ-cells. 
Though no such process of asexual reproduction has apparently been 
observed in other members of the Enteropneusta, the tendency of some 
species to fragmentation and regeneration is well known, and, if their life- 
histories could be followed out^ it might be found that reproduction by fission 
is not an unusual process of multiplication, and is associated with the great 
abundance of. eosinophil globules, which otherwise seem so difficult to 
account for. 
The presence or absence of hepatic cscca, as well as the extent of their 
development, has not been found of any great systematic value in the Entero- 
pneusta, and this case may indicate that other species may at different times 
assume different forms, in which these structures may be absent, or in various 
stages of development as in P. proUferans. 
Some ten years ago it was noted as a remarkable fact by Korschelt and 
Heider that, while asexual reproduction was such a characteristic feature of 
Cephalodisc.iis, it was entirely absent in the closely-allied Balanoglossus and 
in Phoronis. Since that date it has been shown by Harmer that it is a 
normal process in a species of Phoronis, so that this distinction between the 
Pteiobriinchia, Enteropneusta, and Phoronidea disappears. 
