Zool— Vol. I.] EISEN—PLASMOCYTES. 55 



comes at once evident that the dark-staining granulated zone 

 can be identified with my granosphere. It possesses the fol- 

 lowing qualities in common with the granosphere : It stains 

 darkly; it is granulated; it encloses the microcentrum; 

 and it is crescent-shaped, the cavity of the crescent joining 

 a light colored zone, which latter partly or entirely surrounds 

 the nucleus, as does my hyalosphere. The microcentrum 

 also is in almost every particular similar to the archosome 

 of the plasmocytoblast. In one of the figures (21) the 

 granosphere is seen to cause a dell in the nucleus, a charac- 

 teristic which renders nearly perfect the similarity. We 

 must suppose that in these cells the hyalosphere if pres- 

 ent is confined to the immediate vicinity of the nucleus, 

 where it is recognizable as a faintly stainable ring. In the 

 paper referred to (pages 257, 258) Van der Stricht has 

 undoubtedly recognized the great importance and promi- 

 nence of the granosphere, stating that the first modifications 

 apparent in the microscope take place in the very compact 

 cytoplasm which surrounds the attraction sphere. He further 

 states that this "granulated zone" probably corresponds 

 to the asteroid region surrounding the attraction sphere in 

 the egg, or to Heidenhain's radiating organic fibers, with 

 which I am ready to agree. This zone has also been 

 recognized and figured by Hermann, A. Prenant, Holl, F. 

 Heneguy, Van Bambeke, and H. Mertens, as was pointed 

 out by Van der Stricht. Among other recent investigators 

 who have recognized the importance, or rather the exist- 

 ence, of the archosome, R. von Erlanger takes a prominent 

 place. In his paper on the testes of the earthworm he de- 

 scribes and figures the archosome and granosphere which 

 he designates as Nebenkern. He recognizes the centro- 

 some as being situated in this body and ascribes to it a dis- 

 tinctly cytoplasmic origin. While this Nebenkern and my 

 archosome and granosphere are undoubtedly homologous, 

 it must be remembered that the Nebenkern, or paranucleus 

 of some other investigators, signifies bodies of a very differ- 

 ent nature and sometimes even foreign to the cell. Erlanger 

 compares his Nebenkern in the sperm cells with similar 



