The germinal vesicle has up to the present time only been observed to undergo the above series of changes in a certain number of instances, which, however, include examples from several divisions of the Cœlenterata, the Echinodermata, and the Mollusca, some of the Vermes [Turbellarians (Leptoplana), Nematodes, Hirudinea, Alciope, Sagitta], Ascidians, etc. It is very possible, not to say probable, that such changes are universal in the animal kingdom, but the present state of our knowledge does not justify us in saying so.
In the Craniata especially our knowledge of the formation of the polar bodies is very unsatisfactory. In Petromyzon Kupffer and Benecke have brought forward evidence to shew that one polar body is formed prior to the impregnation, and a second in connection with a peculiar prominence of protoplasm after impregnation. Part of the germinal vesicle remains in the egg as the female pronucleus. In the Sturgeon the germinal vesicle atrophies and breaks up before impregnation, and afterwards part is found as a granular mass on the surface of the egg, while part forms a female pronucleus.
In Amphibia the observations of Hertwig ([90]) and Bambeke ([77]) tend to shew that after the germinal vesicle has assumed a superficial situation at the pigmented pole of the ovum its contents become intermingled with the yolk, and are in part extruded from the ovum as a granular mass after impregnation. Part of them remains in the ovum and forms a female pronucleus. Whether there is a proper division of the germinal vesicle as in typical cases is not known.
Oellacher ([95]) by a series of careful observations upon the egg of the trout, and subsequently of the bird, demonstrated that in the ovum while still in the ovary, the germinal vesicle underwent a kind of degeneration and eventually became ejected, in part at any rate. My own observations on Elasmobranchs, which require enlargement and confirmation, tend to shew that this part may be the membrane. Ed. van Beneden [(78)] has contributed some important observations on the rabbit. His account is as follows. As the ovum approaches maturity the germinal vesicle assumes an eccentric position, and fuses with the peripheral layer of the egg to constitute the cicatricular lens. The germinal spot next travels to the surface of the cicatricular lens and forms the nuclear disc: at the same time the membrane of the germinal vesicle vanishes, though it probably unites with the nuclear disc. The plasma of the nucleus then collects into a definite mass and forms the nucleoplasmic body. Finally the nuclear disc assumes an ellipsoidal form and becomes the nuclear body. Nothing is now left of the original germinal vesicle but the nuclear body and the nucleoplasmic body, both still situated within the ovum. In the next stage no trace of the germinal vesicle can be detected in the ovum, but outside it, close to the point where the modified remnants of the vesicle were previously situated, there is present a polar body which is composed of two parts, one of which stains deeply and resembles the nuclear body, and the other does not stain but is similar to the nucleoplasmic body. Van Beneden concludes that the parts of the polar body are the two ejected products of the germinal vesicle. We may be perhaps permitted to hold that further observations on this difficult object will demonstrate that part of the germinal vesicle remains in the ovum to form the female pronucleus.
With reference to invertebrate forms attention may be called to the observations of Bütschli ([80]). Although in Cucullanus a normal formation of the polar bodies takes place, yet in the Nematodes generally, Bütschli has been unable to find the spindle modification of the germinal vesicle, but states that the germinal vesicle undergoes degeneration, its outline becoming indistinct and the germinal spot vanishing. The position of the germinal vesicle continues to be marked by a clear space, which gradually approaches the surface of the egg. When it is in contact with the surface a small spherical body, the remnant of the germinal vesicle, comes into view, and eventually becomes ejected. The clear space subsequently disappears.
In addition to the types just quoted, which may very probably turn out to be normal in the mode of formation of the polar bodies, there is a large number of types, including the whole of the Rotifera and Arthropoda with a few doubtful exceptions[30], in which the polar cells cannot as yet be said to have been satisfactorily observed.
The more important of the doubtful cases amongst the Rotifera and Arthropoda are the following.
Flemming ([83]) finds that in the summer and probably parthenogenetic eggs of Lacinularia socialis the germinal vesicle approaches the surface and becomes invisible, and that subsequently a slight indentation in the outline of the egg marks the point of its disappearance. In the hollow of the indentation Flemming believes a polar cell to be situated, though he has not definitely seen one.
Hoek[31] believes that he has found a polar body in the ovum of Balanus balanoides, but his observations are not perfectly satisfactory.
Bütschli, who has expressly searched for the polar bodies in the ova of Rotifera, was unable to find any trace of them, though he found that as the egg became ripe the germinal vesicle became half its original size. In the parthenogenetic eggs of Aphis he also failed to find a trace of polar bodies, though the germinal vesicle, after the germinal spot had broken up into fragments, approached the surface and disappeared.