History of the germ cells in Sphaerium striatinum (Lam.)

Study of living and sectioned material throughout the life cycle shows the germ‐cell history from fertilized egg to sexual maturity. This can be divided into the following five periods with definite limits: Original appearance during cleavage, period of inactivity, period of multiplication, maturation, and fertilization. Primordial germ cells of characteristic structure can be recognized just before gastrulation, when there is one large germ cell in the mass of mesoderm on either side of the blastocoel. After one division in each of these two cells, the four daughter cells remain inactive, while the remainder of the mesoderm differentiates, until division is resumed in the developing gonad. An indefinite number of gametes is produced. All are direct descendants of the two original primordial germ cells. Transformation of somatic cells into germ cells does not occur nor do germ cells become somatic cells. Cell lineage shows the two primordial germ cells to be derived from the third division of the paired mesoderm cells which have arisen by an equal division of the fourth micromere produced by cell D of the four‐cell stage. Details of meiosis have not been ascertained, because of the small size of the chromosomes, their large number, and the difficulty of fixation. Nothing forecasts which primordial germ cells will become ova and which spermatozoa.