STUDIES IN THE PHYSIOLOGY OF SPERMATOZOA. 



203 



TABLE XIII. 



THE EFFECT OF THE ADDITION OF BEEF BROTH TO SEA WATER UPON THE LENGTH 



OF LIFE OF SPERMATOZOA. 



Experiment 35. 



Experiment 34- 



XI. THE EFFECT OF "EGG WATER" UPON THE ACTIVITY AND 

 UPON THE LONGEVITY OF SPERMATOZOA. 



Owing to the fact that sperm are "agglutinated" by the water 

 in which eggs of the same or closely related species have been 

 allowed to stand, much interest has centered around the effects 

 of the so called "egg water" or "fertilizin" upon the fertilizing 

 power of spermatozoa. 



A. H. Buller seems to have been one of the first students of the 

 fertilization process in Echinids to have noticed this phenomenon. 

 In 1900 he reported before the British Association: "In the case 

 of Arbacia it was discovered that when spermatozoa are intro- 

 duced into a drop containing freshly extruded eggs they collect 

 into small balls, often composed of 100 or more individuals. 

 The balls were also formed after the water had received four 

 successive nitrations. A tactile stimulus appears to play a part 

 in the phenomenon" (Buller, A. H., 1900, p. 387). 



Since then this phenomenon and the properties of the agglu- 



