i86 



MAYNIE R. CURTIS. 



for domestic use, so that its internal arrangement could not 

 be certainly ascertained. It was of a practically normal size 

 and contained a normal yolk and a very small dwarf egg which 

 weighed 4 gm. This dwarf egg contained a small piece of 

 hardened secretion about the size of a pinhead surrounded by 

 layers of albumen which were distinctly visible by transmitted 

 light. The membrane of the dwarf egg was quite thick and the 

 shell very thin. After a short stay in the shell gland the dwarf 

 egg had apparently been returned to the albumen-secreting 

 region without receiving a membrane on its upward passage. 

 Here it met and became enclosed in the succeeding egg. 



Specimen 5 was brought to this laboratory by Mr. H. W. 

 Smith. This egg had been broken for laboratory purposes. 

 He said that the egg was of normal external appearance and 

 average size. He did not note the relation of the internal 

 structures to the poles of the egg. The egg contained a normal 

 yolk. Separated from this by a few layers of thick albumen 

 was a worm-like membrane-covered dwarf egg. This dwarf egg 



FIG. 2. Diagram showing structure of dwarf eggs No. 5. a = albumen; 

 c = chalazal-like fibers, m = egg membrane; s = shell; y = normal yolk; y' = 

 yolk droplets. 



was bent around the yolk. The yolk and dwarf egg were in- 

 cluded in a common albumen envelope. The structure of this 

 egg is shown in Fig. 2. The resemblance of the dwarf egg to a 

 simple organism of some kind was striking. Running through 



