A MILKY WHITE AMPHIBIAN EGG JELL. 



ARTHUR M. BANTA AND ROSS AIKEN GORTNER. 



While collecting Ambystoma punctatum eggs in April, 1914, 

 the writers found a freshly-laid bunch which had jell of milky 

 whiteness instead of being transparent. The white clutch of eggs 

 was conspicuous among the others even though the jell had as 

 yet swelled very little and the bunch was quite small. The eggs 

 were still undivided. They had the normal amount of pigment. 

 The jell was so clouded that at first no eggs could be seen in the 

 mass without breaking into the jell. The jell imbibed water 

 and the egg bunch soon assumed the normal proportions for th e 



clutch of this species. The photograph shows the relative- 

 opacity of the white bunch and a normal bunch of eggs of the 

 same age. Only a few eggs were visible in the opaque bunch 

 when the photograph was taken while one could readily see the 

 bottom of the dish through the jell of the normal bunch. The 

 individual outer and inner egg membranes in the white bunch 

 were of normal transparency. This is indicated indistinctly 



259 



