670 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXXVII. 



descend from one section to another ; on the other hand in all 

 the sections below the ovarial chamber each ovum is perma- 

 nently surrounded by its own follicle cells which descend with 

 the ovum and increase in number with its growth in size. The 

 extent to which these follicle cells multiply can be estimated by 

 comparing their number in the fourth section with that in the 

 second, which would indicate that the increase cannot be less 

 than a hundred fold. In the fifth section mitosis rarely if ever 

 occurs, but here all the nuclei are found to be in some stage 

 of amitosis. In spite of the fact that all of the follicle cells of 

 this section are found in process of division the increase in the 

 number of the cells and nuclei in the successive segments of 

 this section is not great, not nearly as great as in the preceding 

 sections. Coincidently with the great growth of the egg cells 

 in this section the follicle cells and their nuclei grow rapidly in 

 size though they do not increase rapidly in number; this would 

 indicate that the process of amitosis is here a very slow one, 

 which may, perhaps, account for the fact that it is to be seen in 

 all the nuclei. 



Figures 2 and 3 represent portions of the follicle from the 

 region of the ovarial chamber and just below it ; both show char- 

 acteristic mitoses but no evidence of amitosis in any of the cells. 



