WITH 3 PLATES AND 2 DIACEAMS 1.U Tl€E TEXT.Although the spermatocytes of amphibians seem to be exceptionallj favorable material for a study of maturation phenomena, there has been considerable controversy among the workers on amphibian spermato genesis regarding the character of the maturation divisions. Several investigators, among whom may be mentioned Meves, MeGregor, and Eisen, maintain that both of the maturation divisions are longitudinal ; Montgomery and vom Rath, on the other hand, claim that only one of the divisions is longitudinal, the other being a reduction division in the Weismannian sense. It seems necessary, therefore, that the behavior of of the chromatin in the germ-cells of more species of amphibians should be studied in order that this point may be definitely determined.With the exception of vom Rath (46, 47,) MATERIAL AND METHOD.Testes of adult toads killed at various times from April until September, and also testes of young toads with a body length of from 2 em. t o 6 em. were used for these investigations. In both kinds of material like processes of development were found to be taking place, and i t is evident that the spermatozoa formed anew each year in the adult undergo