As to Pygæra, the peculiarity is the complete agreement of his “mitochondrion körper” and my nebenkern in appearance and behavior for a part of the transformation and their complete disagreement in the other part. The question with me is, “Do the two bodies whose final stages are so similar originate so differently, or has one of us mistaken the origin of the body?”
Since reading Meves’s paper I have carefully reexamined my material, and I am positive that I am right as to the origin of the nebenkern; but, on the other hand, I would not say that Meves is wrong in his observations, as in doing so I should fall into the same error which I think Meves himself has made. In his discussion of the literature he has forced every description to agree with his ideas, or has declared that the author has described some extra-nuclear organ as a nebenkern which is not a nebenkern. Thus by implication, if not by direct statement, he says that a nebenkern never comes from the spindle remains. With due respect to his ability and long experience as an investigator, I must say that Meves is mistaken in this. St. George himself traced the cytomicrosomes back to the spindle remains. Besides, the many investigators whom I have cited above cannot be mistaken as to the origin of the nebenkern. In my own material I am positive that there is a direct passing of the interzonal fibers over into the earlier stages of the nebenkern.
That the body which forms the tail covering does not come from the spindle remains in all cases, I am willing to admit. Meves has cited many investigators, especially on vertebrates, whose results favor such an opinion. The spindle remains do not change into a nebenkern even in all Arthropods, as Blackman (’01) finds no nebenkern, nor anything in anywise resembling it, in Scolopendra.
From my study of the results of other investigators, it is evident to me that there are at least two general methods for the formation of the covering for the spermatozoon tail. One of these plans will harmonize Meves’s mitochondrion körper, Erlanger’s centrodeutoplasm, Heidenhain’s pseudo-chromosomes, and other similar structures. The other will show that Platner’s large mitosome, Paulmier’s blackberry stage and my striated nebenkern are only different stages of the spindle remains changing into the tail covering.
V.—Summary.
1. The chromosomes of the second spermatocytes break up and the chromatin becomes diffused all through the nucleus. Later the chromatin collects in granules again and finally forms the walls of the tube-like spermatozoon head.
2. The spindle fibers break loose as the clear space is formed around the chromatin mass. They unite and contract, becoming fewer, thicker, and shorter. These bend and form the “striated nebenkern.” The fibers break up and sometimes show a blackberry appearance. Soon there is a collection of darker material at the center, surrounded by a clear space, which is shut off from the cytoplasm by a darkly staining membrane which in sections appears as a ring. This stage persists for some time; then the nebenkern moves against the axial filament, elongates, loses the ring, and the dark mass passes down along the axial filament. Often it appears in several small drops.
3. The axial filament does not come from the nebenkern nor from the acrosome. It comes apparently from the nucleus; probably from the centrosome closely attached to the nucleus. It never passes through the nebenkern—only over its surface.