G8G 
MR ,T. X. LANGLEY ON THE HISTOLOGY AND 
TRITON T^NIATHS. 
Histology of the Gastric Glands. 
The pepsin-forming glands of the Newt may be conveniently divided into anterior 
oxyntic glands, posterior oxyntic glands, and pyloric glands. There is no abrupt 
transition in passing from the anterior to the posterior oxyntic glands, although the 
extreme forms of the two differ not inconsiderably. 
The oxyntic glands are of the compound tubular type, several secreting tubes coming 
off from a common neck. This form is most pronounced in the anteriorly-placed 
glands. Klein''' described a ring of acinous glands as occurring just above the cardia; 
this was confirmed by Partsch.I These “ acinous ” glands are the most anterior of the 
oxyntic glands in which the compound tubular form is most developed; they occur, as 
was mentioned by Sewall and myself,| under a ciliated epithelium, 
r The glands of the anterior oxyntic region occur in groups separated from one another 
by a considerable amount of connective tissue; this is most marked at the cardia, and 
becomes less and less towards the posterior oxyntic region, where the glands are not 
obviously arranged in groups, and are separated by only a small amount of connective 
tissue. In passing from the anterior to the posterior region, the mucous cells diminish 
in number, and the diameter of the glands decreases ; the glands are longest in the 
first part of the posterior oxyntic region. 
All the oxyntic glands both in the fresh condition and when treated with osmic 
acid are granular throughout. In osmic acid specimens the nuclei of the cells here 
and there appear as a clearer spot through the granules, but they do not form a 
marked feature in the glands; the cell-substance is scarcety at all stained (Plate 78, 
fig. 2). The posterior oxyntic glands stain somewhat darker with osmic acid than 
the anterior; the cell-granules contained by the former are smaller than those con¬ 
tained by the latter (Plate 3, fig. 3). The granules behave with reagents much as 
do the granules of the oesophageal and gastric glands of the Frog. Hydrochloric acid 
0'4 per cent, causes them to disappear suddenly without any progressing diminution 
in size. When treated with bile they become smaller and smaller until they dis¬ 
appear. Alcohol, even 50 per cent., partly dissolves them, leaving a small slightly 
refractive mass behind. Some of the granules are much more readily acted on by the 
above reagents than others. Salt solution up to 20 per cent, leaves them unaffected. 
The pyloric glands seldom contain mucous cells. They are transparent in the living- 
con dition ; treated with osmic acid they remain homogeneous and stain yellow-brown. 
The nuclei are large compared with those of similar cells, and show when treated with 
appropriate reagents—as do all the gastric gland cells of the Newt (Klein)— a very 
* Klein, Steickee’s Hdb., vol. i., p. 542. 
t Op. cit., s. 198. 
t Op. cit. p. 290. 
