248 
J. 0. Wakelin Barratt and G. Arnold 
of Sertoli divide amitotically. Thls is shown by the frequency of nuclear 
folds, the complete absence of karyokineses and the considerable increase 
in the number of the nuclei; 2. that the protoplasm surrounding the 
nnclei of the cells of Sertoli, although disposed in a syncytium belongs 
to these nuclei because it persists around them a considerable time after 
the disappearance of all other cells; and 3. that the nuclei of the cells of 
Sertoli cannot give rise to nuclei other than tliose of foot cells. They 
are incapable of producing spermatogonia from which spermatocytes, 
spermatids and spermatozoa arise. In consequence the theory of the 
duality of composition of the seminal gland is inexact. The seminai 
epithelium includes two Orders of cells: a) the spermatogonia and b) nu- 
tritive cells, which latter are the cells of Sertoli. 
Regaud 1 ) repeated the observations of Bergonie and Tribondeau. 
He found that in the neighbourhood of the anticathode the cells of the 
sexual layers, with the exception of the spermatocytes of the second 
Order, spermatids and spermatozoa, were killed. Farther from the anti- 
cathode the spermatocytes were not killed, but spermatogenesis ceased 
and did not recommence for six to seven w r eeks. The cells of Sertoli 
were not attacked by the X rays. From these results the author con- 
cludes that tliere is no relation between the cells of Sertoli and sexual 
cells. The spermatogemmen of La Valette are not normally present. 
The syncytium is not an intercellular substance with included degenerative 
nuclei, but a living and persistent tissue. Regaud, in Opposition to Benda 2 ) 
concludes that the cells of Sertoli liave everywhere formed a syncytium. 
In Opposition to Loisel 3 ) and Tribondeau he regards his experiments 
as confirmatory of the nutritive, secretorv and phagocytic properties 
attributed to the syncytium; a copulation between spermatids and syn- 
cytium (synphorese, Benda) does not occur. In the grouping of sperma- 
tozoa into bundles, lateral pressure plays no part. 
*) Loc. cit. Also Origine, renouvellement et structure des spermatogonies chez 
le rat, Verh. Anat. Ges. 1899. 13. Vers. S. 42. Sur la morphologie de la cellule de 
Sertoli et sur son röle dans la spermatogenese chez les mammiferes. C. R. Ass. Anat. 
1899. 1. Session, p. 21. Cp. K. Peter, Die Bedeutung der Nälirzelle im Hoden. Arch. 
mikr. Anat. 1898. Bd. LIII. S. 180. 
2 ) Benda. Über die Spermatogenese der Vertebraten und höherer Evertebraten. 
1. Teil. Über die vegetativen Geschlechtszellen. Arch. Anat. Phys. Phys. Abt. 1898. S. 385. 
3 ) Loisel. Les graisses du testicule chez quelques sauropsides. C. R. Soc. Biol. 
Paris 1903. T. LV. p. 826. Les graisses du testicule chez quelques mammiferes. Ibid. 
p. 1009. Elaboration graisseuse periodique dans le testicule des oiseaux. C. R. Ass. 
Anat. 1903. 5. Session, p. 204. Sur la secretion interne du testicule et en particulier 
sur celle de la cellule de Sertoli. Bibi. Anat. Paris 1903. T. II. p. 169. 
