STARVATION OF .VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL TISSUES. 69 
lose their plump, shining aspect, and numerous fat granules 
frequently present themselves, both in them and in the con- 
necting processes, but no great accumulation of fatty matter or 
destructive change seems to occur. 
The principal effect of defective nutritive supply on the tissues 
in these experiments, as in those in regard to vegetable tissues, 
seemed to lie in a fatty change. This change or degeneration 
specially affected epithelial elements containing a large proportion 
of living material, and the blood cells. The destructive changes 
in the blood cells must be regarded as a direct effect of defective 
nutrition, but it is not easy to determine how far the changes in 
the epithelial tissues are to be ascribed to this and how far to 
defective oxidation and consequent accumulation dependent on 
the changes in the blood. The persistence of the outer epidermal 
layer is very remarkable, and is probably to be ascribed to the 
extent to which it is composed of formed, more or less cuticu- 
larised material. 
The normal anatomy of the intestinal canal and the changes 
occurring in it during starvation remain now to be described. 
The intestinal canal of the larvae is of such simple structure and 
such transparent texture as greatly to facilitate the determination 
of these. All the structures can be readily subjected to obser- 
vation without disturbing their normal relations, or interfering 
with the intestine in any way beyond removing it from the body 
of the animal. In normal healthy specimens the spiral coil of 
the intestine appears conspicuous externally, shining through the 
transparent abdominal walls. It consists of three coats, the 
external of which is muscular, the internal epithelial, and the 
intermediate one composed of reticulate adenoid tissue 
fig. 8). 
Fig. 8. — Normal structure of the coats of the intestine, x 180. 
The muscular coat consists of the two layers of fibres, those in 
the outer layer running parallel to the length of the canal, those in 
the inner transversely arranged. The epithelial coat is composed 
of large cylindrical cells. These call for no special note, as they 
closely resemble those occurring in the intestines of other animals. 
Their contents consist of soft, clouded protoplasm with a few 
scattered granules, and their only peculiarity lies in the fact that 
