It retains the characters above enumerated till near the close of the first day of incubation, _i.e._ till several mesoblastic somites have become established. It then becomes more distinctly separated from the subjacent yolk, and its component parts change very considerably in character. The whole wall becomes much less granular. It is then mainly formed of large vesicles, which often assume a palisade-like arrangement, and contain granular balls, spherules of white yolk, and in an early stage a good deal of granular matter (_vide_ fig. 115). These bodies have some resemblance to cells, and have been regarded as such by Kölliker (No. 135) and Virchow (No. 150): they contain however nothing which can be considered as a nucleus. Between them however nuclei[62] may easily be seen in specimens hardened in picric acid, and stained with hæmatoxylin (these nuclei are not shewn in fig. 115). These nuclei are about the same size as those of the hypoblast cells, and are surrounded by a thin layer of granular protoplasm, which is continuous with a mesh-work of granular protoplasm enveloping the above described vesicles. The germinal wall is still continuous with the hypoblast at its edge; and close to the junction of the two the hypoblast at first forms a layer of moderately columnar cells, one or two deep and directly continuous with the germinal wall, and at a later period usually consists of a mass of rounder cells lying above the somewhat abrupt inner edge of the germinal wall. [62] The presence of numerous nuclei in the germinal wall was, I believe, first clearly proved by His (No. 132). I cannot however accept the greater number of his interpretations. The germinal wall certainly gives rise to the hypoblast cells, which mainly grow at its expense. They arise at the edge of the area pellucida, and when first formed are markedly columnar, and enclose in their protoplasm one of the smaller vesicles of the germinal wall. In the later stages (fourth day and onwards) the whole germinal wall is stated to break up into columnar hypoblast cells, each of them mainly formed of one of the vesicles just spoken of. After the commencing formation of the embryo the mesoblast becomes established at the inner edge of the area opaca, between the germinal wall and the epiblast; and gives rise to the tissue which eventually forms the area vasculosa. It seems probable that the mesoblast in this situation is mainly derived from cells formed around the nuclei of the germinal wall, which are usually specially aggregated close below the epiblast. Disse (No. 122) has especially brought evidence in favour of this view, and my own observations also support it.