George W. Bartelmez 8 1 



Concerning the position of the egg in the 

 C 22 ] uterus and the formation of the shell. 



I have always found the position of the egg, newly arrived in the 

 uterus, such that the sharper end is pointed toward the vagina, the 

 blunter end toward the interior. In the fully formed egg, however, 

 when an effort has already been made to lay, I have sometimes found 

 the blunter, sometimes the sharper, end applied to the opening of tlic 

 vagina."'' Perchance in the labor of laying the egg it is often turned 

 until it assumes a comfortable position. 



When the shell is beginning to form, you will find its membrane at 

 first besprinkled with the most minute calcareous flakes all about 

 the same size and polygonal in form (figs. 26 and 27). Then they keep 

 accumulating and fusing together, but so as to have inconspicuous 

 interstices Avhich serve for transpiration. 



If now you will examine an oviduct which has been opened up 

 from its infundibulum to its entrance into the cloaca, you ^vill find its 

 various parts differentiated for the following functions: The mouth 

 of the infundibulum receives the yolk as it is extruded from the calyx; 

 the following part of the oviduct, which comprises about 14 of its 

 total length and which is provided with a rather scant glandular 

 apparatus, secretes the membrane of Dutrochet and the innermost 

 strands of the chalazae; farther along, the internal membrane of the 

 canal is covered by a mucous-producing parenchyma considerably 

 thickened. This comprises almost two of the foin~ parts of the whole 

 or more, and provides the great investment of albumen for the yolk. 

 Thereupon the oviduct is narrowed at the isthmus and in the folloAv- 

 ing portion as far as the uterus, [comprising] almost I3 of the whole, 

 the shell membranes cover over the albumen. The uterus, in its tin n, 

 serves to secrete the shell; the vagina extrudes the egg through its own 

 external opening and through the cloaca. The purposes of these organs 

 are readily visible and there is no need of calling in hypotheses to 

 build up a "counterfeit presentment" of nature. 



