No. 385.] DEVELOPMENT OF ASTERIAS PALLIDA. KI 
remarks that his early results are unreliable, because he had 
not imbedded in celloidin, —a statement with which I fully 
concur, — and it never seems to have occurred to Goto to use 
celloidin. Osmic acid, again, is the only reagent which will 
preserve the delicate epithelia so that one can be sure of their 
actual extent. And Goto used corrosive sublimate mixed with 
glycerine, an absolutely fatal compound for histology. Again, 
so far as one can judge, a most insufficient amount of material 
was used. And there is no subject on which it is so easy to 
go fatally wrong as mreeoresny) except an unbroken series of 
stages be obtained. 
We have now reached a stage in embryological research 
where progress can only be made by the most refined methods, 
and by the exercise of abundant caution. The day of break- 
ing ground is past. Of course the method of thorough explora- 
tion by sections is slow and laborious, and in these days of 
impatience for quick results it is apt to be shirked; but in my 
opinion it is the only one which will lead us any farther in our 
acquaintance with developmental processes. _ 
MONTREAL, October 22, 1898. 
LIST OF PAPERS REFERRED TO. 
Acassiz, A. ‘64. Embryology of the Starfish. eee 1864; also 
as Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., Harvard, vol. 
Bury, H. ’89. Studies in the Embryology of enn Quart. Journ. 
Mic. Sci., vol. xxix. 
Bury, H. '95. The Metamorphosis of Echinoderms. Quart. Journ. Mic. 
Sci., vol. xxxviii. 
Lupwic, H. '82. Entwickelungsgeschichte der Asterina gibbosa. Zeit- 
schrift f. Wiss. Zool., Bd. xxxvii. 
MacBRIDE, E. W. '96. The Development of Asterina gibbosa. Quart. 
Journ. Mic. Sci., vol. xxxviii. 
MÜLLER,'J. '48~55. Ueber die Larven und Metamorphose der Echino- 
dermen. Abh. kel. Acad. Wiss, Berlin. 1848-55 
SEMON, R. '89. Die Entwickelung der Synapta digitata. /enaische Zeit- 
schrift, Bd. xxii. 
THÉEL, H. '94 The Development of Echinocyamus pusillus. Mov. Acta 
Reg. Soc. Sci., Upsala, Ser. 3, vol. xv. 1892. 
