156 ARTIFICIAL PARTHENOGENESIS AND FERTILIZATION 



We intend to investigate whether these effects of bases upon 

 the rate of oxidations in the unfertilized eggs are irreversible, 

 i.e., will continue if the eggs are put into normal sea-water after 

 the treatment with alkali. But we have an experiment which 

 possibly serves the same purpose. We measured the amount 

 of oxygen consumed in one hour in the eggs mentioned in 

 Table XXX in the same solution sixteen and twenty-four hours 



TABLE XXX 



CONSUMPTION OF OXYGEN BY UNFERTILIZED EGGS AT 18 IN 50 c.c. 

 NORMAL SEA-WATER +0.8 c.c. N/10 NH 4 OH 



after the experiment. In the meantime the eggs had been kept 

 at a low temperature in normal sea-water. The rate of oxida- 

 tions after sixteen or twenty-four hours was practically the 

 same as in the second hour. This agrees with the assumption 

 that these bases bring about the modification of the cortical 

 layer of the egg, after which the rate of oxidation in the egg is 

 raised permanently. 



These experiments prove two facts, first, that the weaker 

 bases increase the rate of oxidations in the unfertilized egg more 

 than the stronger bases; and, second, that this difference is due 

 to the fact that the weaker bases diffuse more rapidly into the 

 egg than the strong bases. 



The connection between the oxidative action of bases and 

 artificial parthenogenesis lies in the fact that the essential 

 factor in artificial parthenogenesis is an alteration of the 

 surface or cortical layer of the egg which results in a membrane 



