380 WILSON GEE. 



concentrations of alcohol. The problem was at first undertaken 

 with the idea of determining what might be the results of a direct 

 treatment of the spermatozoa with alcohol. Early in the pro- 

 gress of the work, it became apparent that even in low concentra- 

 tions the solutions used were markedly toxic to the unfertilized 

 egg. There seems no practical way to separate the spermatozoa 

 from the alcohol with which they are treated, and some of this 

 material must come in contact with the eggs in the process of 

 fertilizing them. So, for comparative purposes, an extended 

 study of the susceptibility to acute alcoholization in the eggs 

 of Fundulus prior and subsequent to fertilization was made. 

 This indicates that the periods before and shortly after fertiliza- 

 tion are especially critical in the history of the egg, a fact which, 

 if it holds true generally, is of considerable significance and 

 interest. The latter portion of the paper deals with the treat- 

 ment of the spermatozoa of Fundulus, and the results of this on the 

 subsequent development in the eggs fertilized by them. 



There are many advantages in favor of the method of treating 

 the germ cells directly with alcohol ; for here the problem is not 

 one involving the secondary effects of the altered soma upon the 

 germ plasm. The fish Fundulus provided what seemed excellent 

 material for such direct experimentation. The short-lived nature 

 of the sperm of this species is, however, a fatal obstacle to any- 

 thing like an extended treatment of the male germ cell. On the 

 other hand, if the eggs of this form are allowed to stand for a 

 much greater period than one half hour after being stripped, the 

 percentage of fertilizations is materially lowered and in some 

 instances the cleavages rendered abnormal. Thus these two 

 conditions necessarily make the period of treatment a short one. 

 Since practically no work of this kind has been done on short 

 length treatments with different chemical poisons, this feature 

 alone of these experiments would seem to make them of value. 



Much interest has recently centered in the treatment of the 

 germ cells of a number of different types of animals and the 

 resulting effect on the processes of development. Notable in 

 this regard are the experiments of Stockard ('12, '13, '16) showing 

 the effects of alcohol on the germ cells of mammals, and those of 

 the Hertwigs ('n, '12, '13) on the effects of radium on some less 



