Egg formation in a leech

In a leech infesting the Alaskan codfish germinal masses in the ovary proliferate secondary groups, comprising about forty cells in which a follicle and central supporting cell early differentiate. Active division results in approximately 500 cells which apparently develop ductules extending to a point on the surface of the egg. Granules of unknown origin then appear in each nurse cell, and are drawn down the ductules into the egg which can now be distinguished. Reasons are given for the belief that the nutritive material is drained from the nurse cells by amoeboid activity of the egg. In early stages the nutritive mateiral forms a loose reticulum which gradually becomes transformed into a more extensive network, persisting until the maturation divisions. In this latest period the follicle and nurse cells, which become shrunken as the ovum enlarges, usually are stripped off and soon disintegrate.