Contr. towards the Embryology and Anatomy of Polistes pallipes. 205 



small bodies appear which in structure resemble a nucleus (Fig. 83); 

 how at first they all lie near the nucleus, but later, many move 

 away and spread over the periphery of the oöcyte. We will first 

 briefly take up these nuclear-like bodies and then the oöcyte. 



The origin of these bodies is not clear; Blochmann (3) described 

 them as budding off from the nucleus, and Stuhlmaxn (27) as forming 

 from small concretions near the nucleus; while Blochmann's explana- 

 tion appears very propable I am unable to prove it, not having, in 

 the very many nuclei examined, ever seen any appearance of bud- 

 ding. Düring the formation of the bodies the membrane of the nucleus 

 remains fairly regulär until after most, if not all, of them have been 

 formed. I see no other explanation for their origin it not being 

 very probable that they come from the yolk-nucleus which is present 

 in the young oöcyte, when these bodies are being formed (Fig. 78), 

 but which is not seen in the older oöcytes. Any other explanation 

 does not occur to me and I think, although no proof can be shown 

 for it, that they originate from the nucleus. 



In an oöcyte 0,05 x 0,08 mm in size a great number of these 

 bodies are found around the nucleus (Fig. 92); they all have the 

 same structure but vary considerably in size. When they begin to 

 spread over the surface of the oöcyte they are found only at its 

 distal end (Fig. 57) but later can be seen at any place on the surface 

 (Fig. 84). When such a distribution has taken place, many of them 

 still remain near the nucleus. After the elongation of the oöcyte its 

 nucleus, as has been found for other Hymenoptera, lies near its distal 

 end which is the part nearest the nurse Chamber. When the nucleus 

 of the oöcyte becomes irregulär in shape, the same is true for many 

 of these bodies (Figs. 95, 96 and 98); their contents becoming less 

 darkly stained. The one or two darkly staining nucleoli each 

 contains, remains, but the Strands and the chromatin granules loose 

 their distinctness and in part disappear. These small bodies, as 

 well as the oöcyte nucleus, are present in the oldest oöcyte examined, 

 one 0,24 X 0,47 mm. 



Just as we are unable to give definitely the origin of these 

 bodies, so are we unable to State positively what is their function; 

 it may be that a further study of the oöcyte will make this clear. 

 The only explanation I can offer for their presence might be more 

 plausible if they were found in other than Hymenopterous insects, 

 (KoRSCHELT [18] 2Iitsca?). When one studies a longitudinal section 

 of an oöcyte of Polistes after a large amount of deutoplasm has 



Zeitschrift f. wissenscli. Zoologie. LXXXVI. Bd. 14 



