DEVELOPMENT OF PERIPATUS NOV^-ZEALANDIiE. 237 



there is a mass of protaplasm lying quite on the periphery, and 

 extending over it for a small area. In it there is a large round 

 nucleus with very evident traces of a karyokinetic figure. 

 Small irregular branched masses of protoplasm are present 

 near the periphery at the lower side of the egg, but they 

 contain no nuclei. In the centre of the egg there are two or 

 three very definite protoplasmic masses, none of these contain 

 nuclei, but in one there are three very definite chromatin 

 granules. Fig. 10 represents a section through this ovum. 



Between the last-described ovum and the next one which I 

 have, there is a considerable gap. In this ovum, a section 

 through which is represented in fig. 11, the yolk is still seg- 

 mented, and nuclei are present scattered irregularly through- 

 out the ovum, being more plentiful near the periphery than 

 towards the centre. In one region there is a special aggrega- 

 tion of nuclei lying in a loose protoplasmic reticulum ; this 

 mass of nuclei is situated on one surface of the egg, its long 

 axis being parallel to the long axis of the latter, and extending 

 through about the middle third of its length. In transverse 

 section it is irregularly triangular in shape, the apex being 

 directed towards the centre, and the base forming the peri- 

 phery of the egg in this region. The protoplasmic reticulum 

 passes without any sharp line of demarcation at its edges into 

 the yolk. Fig. 12 represents the protoplasmic portion of the 

 ovum ; it is drawn from the same section as fig. 11, but under 

 Zeiss' obj. D instead of obj. A. The nuclei vary much in 

 size, and some stain very much more deeply than others ; they 

 are extremely irregularly arranged, there being in some places 

 a group of several crowded close together in a small area of 

 protoplasm ; this is very noticeable in one place in fig. 12, 

 where eleven small nuclei lie together in a small oval mass of 

 protoplasm ; in other places they are much farther apart, and 

 sometimes there is a fairly large area of protoplasm devoid of 

 nuclei. A few yolk-spheres are present among the meshes of 

 the reticulum. There is no trace of any cell boundaries, the 

 protoplasm forming a very loose reticulum, the whole mass 

 being everywhere connected together by strands, The impos- 



