878 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXII. 
GENERAL BIOLOGY. 
Filose Activity in Metazoan Eggs. — Any new facts that throw 
light upon the complicated problem of the relations to one another 
of the cells in an organism are exceedingly welcome. We note with 
pleasure, therefore, an article! by Prof. E. A. Andrews, giving a 
summary of his researches upon the formation of pseudopodia-like 
processes in metazoan eggs, to which Mrs. Andrews first clearly 
called attention in 1897.” 
The filose processes are described as extremely fine pirat ticeite 
threads arising from the surface of blastomeres in various stages 
of cleavage. They traverse the blastoceel, and frequently become 
attached to other blastomeres or to the polar bodies, which also give 
rise to similar processes. The threads may branch, and the proto- 
plasm flowing along them may collect in nodules, especially at the 
points of origin of the branches. 
These filose phenomena were observed in living eggs of a nudi- 
branch mollusk, Zergipes despectus (? ); a lamellibranch, Yoldia lima- 
tula; a nemertean, Cerebratulus lacteus Verrill; an annelid, Serpula ; 
and echinoderms. 
Among the Chordata, preserved material only was available. In 
sections of cleavage and larval stages of the salamander Amblystoma 
punctatum, and in certain frog’s eggs, undoubted protoplasmic con- 
nections between the cells were observed, but their normal filose 
character was not certain. Eggs of Amphioxus in four, eight, and 
sixteen-cell stages showed marked intercellular connections. In the 
illustrations these are seen to be filaments of considerable length, 
extending across the cleavage cavity. Figures of the filose processes 
found in living and in preserved echinoderm eggs are introduced for 
comparison, and support the view that the filaments in the egg of 
Amphioxus are of the same character. . 
If the filose phenomena are as widely distributed throughout the 
animal kingdom as this paper would lead one to suppose, they will 
become surely an important factor in future theories of ontogeny. 
R. P. B. 
A Plea for the Theory of Special Creation. — While the methods 
of evolution still furnish matter for discussion, one might suppose 
1 Andrews, E. A. Filose Activity in Metazoan Eggs, Zoological Bulletin, 
vol. ii (July, 1898), No. 1, pp. 1-13 
2 Journ. of Morph., vol. xii, No. 2. 
