CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE BERMUDA BIOLOGICAL STATION 



FOR RESEARCH. — No. 14. 



THE EFFECT OF ALKALOIDS ON THE EARLY DEVEL- 

 OPMENT OF TOXOPNEUSTES VARIEGATUS.i 



Bt Sergixs Morgulis. 

 Presented by E. L. Mark. Received October 1, 1908. 



It was found by Mathews (:01) that upon adding small quantities 

 of pilocarpine hydrochloride to the sea-water the process of develop- 

 ment could be hastened and abnormally large embryos produced, 

 while the addition of atropine sulphate resulted in a slowing of the 

 developmental process and in the production of dwarf embryos. The 

 effect, according to this author, is especially well marked on the devel- 

 oping eggs of the star-fish, Asterias Forbesii; Torald Sollman (:04), 

 whose work upon the influence of atropine and pilocarpine on the 

 development of star-fish and sea-urchin eggs was done apparently 

 under Mathews' direction, maintains (p. 355) that "the effects [i. e. 

 acceleration or retardation] of the poisons were very similar on both 

 Arbacia and Asterias." 



A size above the normal is rather an unusual condition, and it 

 therefore seemed highly desirable to find out in what relation the 

 overgrown lavae stand to the normal ones, especially from a cytolog- 

 ical point of view, as such knowledge might contribute something to 

 the understanding of the general problem of growth. The work the 

 results of which are given in the present paper was undertaken origi- 

 nally for the purpose of studying the cellular nature of the larvae, both 

 those larger and those smaller than the normal ones, as well as to test 

 the influence of other alkaloids upon the rate of growth and the size 

 of developing embryos. 



Although my experiments have not yielded the anticipated results, 

 a brief statement of the work may not be without interest. The ex- 



1 Contributions from the Bermuda Biological Station for Research, No. 14. 



