148 MR A. ANSTRUTHER LAWSON ON 
Within the meshes of the cytoplasm there are numerous oil globules and other food 
granules. In other respects the cytoplasmic reticulum is quite uniform. The peri- 
pheral cytoplasm is in close association with a firm cell-wall of considerable thickness. 
In fig. 15 we represent a condition which shows unmistakable evidence of a 
diminution in the volume of the nuclear vacuole. Accompanying this diminution we 
find the first indication of the transformation of the cytoplasmic reticulum into kino- 
plasmic threads. Here it will be seen that the cytoplasm in the region of the nuclear 
membrane has undergone a modification which takes the form of a narrow weft of 
delicate threads. This weft does not appear to be uniform in its distribution about 
the nucleus, and differs from the early kinoplasmic zone described above for Disporwm 
in that the threads do not form a system of radiations. It appears that as the nuclear 
membrane recedes with the diminishing of the karyolymph, the drawing out of the 
threads from the cytoplasmic reticulum is more marked at certain places than at others 
(figs. 15 and 16). At such places there are conical-shaped sheaves of threads produced, 
which impart an irregular and unsymmetrical form to the kinoplasm. The beginning 
of these sheaves is shown in fig. 15, and later stages are shown in figs. 16 and 17, 
where we have a typical multipolar arrangement. In the stages shown in figs. 16, 17, 
and 18, we find in each cell several large conical-shaped sheaves of fibrils whose wide 
bases are evidently continuous with the nuclear membrane, and whose outer or distal 
extremities taper out into more or less sharp points. The drawings are, of course, 
made from sections, and consequently the figures do not represent all of the cones 
developed in each cell. In fig. 16 there are three of these cone-shaped sheaves to 
be seen; in fig. 17 there are four; in fig. 18 three; and in fig. 19 two. A study and 
compilation of serial sections convinces me that the number of sheaves developed in 
these early stages is not an essential feature. In the matter of numbers they seemed 
to vary considerably in the different cells I have examined. The form and position of 
the kinoplasmic sheaves seem likewise a matter of no great importance, for, as I shall 
point out later, they are constantly changing during the prophase. The feature of these 
early stages that is of great importance, and one that should be noted as having an 
essential bearing on all the changes of the prophase, is that as these kinoplasmic 
sheaves develop and increase in size there is a corresponding gradual decrease in the 
volume of the nuclear vacuole. It will be seen that as the nuclear vacuole becomes 
smaller and smaller, the kinoplasmic threads become longer and more sharply defined. 
That there exists a causal relation between these two sets of changes I have no doubt 
whatever. If measurements be taken of the volume of the nucleus as indicated in the 
sections shown in figs. 20 and 21, it will be found that there has taken place a great 
reduction in the karyolymph—that its volume is now only about one-eighth of that 
shown in nucleus in fig. 14. As I pointed out above in the case of Disporum, we have 
here a limited amount of cytoplasm now occupying a cubical space which has been 
very much increased by reason of the diffusion of the karyolymph from the nuclear 
vacuole, The state of tension that necessarily follows finds an expression in the 
