Considering how few ova have been adequately investigated with reference to the behaviour of the germinal vesicle, any general conclusions which may at present be formed are to be regarded as provisional. There is however abundant evidence that at the time of maturation of the egg the germinal vesicle undergoes peculiar changes, which are, in part at least, of a retrogressive character. These changes may begin considerably before the egg has reached the period of maturity, or may not take place till after it has been laid. They consist in an appearance of irregularity and obscurity in the outline of the germinal vesicle, the absorption of its membrane, the partial absorption of its contents in the yolk, the disappearance of the reticulum, and the breaking up and disappearance of the germinal spot. The exact fate of the single germinal spot, or the numerous spots where they are present, is still obscure. The retrogressive metamorphosis of the germinal vesicle is followed in a large number of instances by the conversion of what remains into a striated spindle similar in character to a nucleus previous to division. This spindle travels to the surface of the ovum and undergoes division to form the polar cell or cells in the manner above described. The part which remains in the egg forms eventually the female pronucleus. 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 Coelenterata, 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.