- 36 - 
granoso«.^) Of the peripheral cell-process he says: that it >non 
presenta alcuna particolaritå strutturale« ; in Tav. IX, fig. 3 (1. c. 
1878) he illustrates a ganglion cell with a peripheral process (»pro- 
lungamento periferico«) exhibiting a distinct longitudinal striation 
which he does not, however, mention in the text so far as I have 
seen. Some large fibres, he says, have a fibrillar appearance. 
Newton (1879) designates the cell-protoplasm as being granular; 
he says that »the granular cell contents may be seen in some in- 
stance, extending into the fibres « (i. e. the cell-processes). 
Krieger (1880) describes a granular cell-protoplasm and a 
homogeneous process. 
ViGNAL (1883) seems to have tåken up no distinct position regard- 
ing the fibrillar or non-fibrillar structure of the ganglion cells. About 
that of the MoUusca he says: »Elles sont formées dun globe 
ganglionnaire å la surface et dans Imterieur duquel se trouvent de 
fines fibrilles qui forment le ou les prolongements de la cellule; entre 
les fibrilles se trouvent de fines granulations graisseuses, quelque- 
fois diversement colorées (1. c. p. 342). Regarding the ganglion 
cells of the Hinidinea he reports in somewhat similar terms. » Elles 
sont formées d'un globe ganglionaire å la surface duquel se trouve 
un noyau; il est recouvert par de fines fibrilles qui en constituent le 
prolongement« (1. c. p. 372). 
Regarding the ganglion cells ef the Crustaceans and OUgochætes 
he seems, however, to be of quite another opinion. About those of 
the Crustaceans he says e. g. : » elles sont formées presque toutes par 
^) Of the large ganglion cells he says (1. c. 1878 p. 523): *Esse posseggono 
una sottile parete e sono circondate da un invoglio di tessuto connettivo nucleato. 
Il contenuto ha un aspetto finamente granoso, ma al polo del prolungamento peri- 
ferico i granuli sono piu fitti e formano un cono distinto, la cui base h la corri- 
spondente parete del nucleo e il cui vertice ^ l'origine del cilindro assile.* In the 
small ganglion cells he even believes to have seen »il cilindro assile« penetrate inta 
the nucleus and terminate »in uno spazio chiaro e rotondo che si trova nei centra 
di questo.« To this apparent connection of the peripheral process or, as I call it, 
nervous process, with the nucleus, Bellonci ascribes great importance, it shows, in 
his opinion, that the nervous impression »si propaga al centro della cellula e pro- 
priamente al nucleo, il quale nella cellula nervosa, come in tutte le altre, h il vero 
centro delVallivita vitale. « We will return to this subject, and to my view of it,, 
at the conclusion of the present paper. Of great interest is, that Bellonci expressly 
accentuates that each ganglion cell has only one real nervous process («cilindro 
assile«) *destinato a formare un elemento del nervo, tutti gli altri non sono che 
prolungamenti destinati ad unire fra di loro le cellule di una stessa massa cellulare.*^ 
In the latter statement I do not, however, agree with him (vide sequel). 
