326 
d; l. soós 
I must discusss shortly in connection with the already men¬ 
tioned, the question of the nebenkern. This cell-organ was discovered 
in the male germ-cells of Helix by Platnee who named it by the 
term given by Bütschli nebenkern. He first believed that it took its 
origin from the nucleus, but he expressed in his last paper dealing 
with this question (93) the opinion that it arose from the degenerating 
spindle fibres, and this opinion was also accepted by Bolles Lee (9, 
11) who stated that the nebenkern was the remnant of the spindle 
fibres which had melted into a homogeneous mass. The observations 
of Peowazek (98) have given a similar result. According to Mubeay (85) 
the nebenkern is identical with the sphere, and is centre is occupied 
by the centrosome, von Koeff (85) regards it as identical with the sphere 
or the idiozome of Meves. Tschassownikow (120) is of the opinion that 
it is a cell-organ like the others (nucleus, centrosome), which is inhe¬ 
rited from one cell generation to the other. 
Ancel’s (2) and Popoff’s (94) careful researches decided the ques¬ 
tion. They have found that in young germ-cells of Helix first appear 
fine granules and delicate threads which are stained black with Heiden- 
hain’s iron-hematoxylin, and form a group in a determined point of the 
cell. The granules are identical with the «mitochondria granules» of 
the authors. The number of the threads becomes greater afterwards, 
and the granules and delicate threads get replaced by thicker ones. 
They form then a dense group and lie close to the nuclear membrane. 
These thicker threads are the «chondriomites» of the authors. The 
mitochondria granules and threads scatter themselves afterwards fairly 
equably through the cytoplasm, and synchronously thick rods appear 
among them possessing sharp outlines. These have already been seen 
by Platnee, and Heidenhain named them pseudochromosomes. The 
pseudochromosomes of the spermatids (and also those of the spermato¬ 
cytes) coalesce at their ends and they enclose a spherical or polygonal 
space filled w r ith a homogeneous mass (PL XL, Fig. 5.) which stains 
less deeply than the pseudochromosomes. The chromidia become divi¬ 
ded in equal parts to the secondary spermatocytes and spermatids. — 
My own observations agree with those of Ancel and Popoff. Their result 
is that the mitochondria threads arise from the mitochondria granules, 
and the pseudochromosomes take their origin from the threads, i. e., 
mitochondria granules, chondriomites (mitochondria threads), pseudo¬ 
chromosomes and nebenkern are not particular, independent parts of 
the cell, but they are only different stages in the development of the 
same cell-organ. 
Platnee, Bolles Lee, and Peowazek, as mentioned above, stated 
