POLYSPERMY I23 



simple enough. Evaluation of the results, however, may not be so 

 easy and it is interesting to find that Kushner, apart from inter- 

 preting the results of his colleagues on the basis of polyspermy, 

 raises the question of somatic fertilization, a subject which, as he 

 rightly points out, has fallen into disrepute in recent times, except 

 in the special case of fertilization in sponges (Tuzet, 1950). Somatic 

 fertilization implies that spermatozoa enter somatic cells in the 

 female reproductive tract and exert an influence on them. Kushner 

 quotes several Russian workers who have claimed that somatic 

 fertilization of the mother exerts a beneficial eff"ect on her oflFspring. 



