On the possible effect of the environment on the cytoplasmic inclusions in the oocytes and oogonia of Dasychone cingulata, Salmacis bicolor, and Clibanarius olivaceus

Abstract

1. The oogenesis of Dasychone and Salmacis has been worked out from oocytes collected during two different seasons. 2. Changes in the physico-chemical factors of the Sea and the Adyar river water have been studied. 3. Measurements of the ripe oocytes indicate a cousistent increase in size in the oocytes ofClibanarius and a decrease in Dasychone and Salmacis from January to June. It is presumed that these alterations in size are caused by variations in salinity. 4. In December-January preparations of Dasychone, fat-the only deutoplasmic inclusion-appears to be formed by the transformation of Golgi material. 5. In May-June fatty yolk alone has been observed in the eggs and this appears to be secreted by the dictyosomes. 6. The nucleoli and nucleolar buds are stained deep red in December-January while in May-June they are orange, of slightly varying shades. 7. In Salmacis also, there is a variation in the quantity of nutritive bodies, mitochondria and yolk in the two seasons. 8. An attempt has been made to show that the remarkable diversity of results obtained by workers on the same animal are due to variations in the environment: (1) seasonal, (2) geographical.