OVULATION AND EGG TRANSPORT 



115 



THE BODY CAVITY EGGS 



In the body cavity of the ovulating female, or In the finger howl with the excised 

 ovary, there will be seen some recently ovulated eggs. Since these eggs have not passed 

 through the oviduct they will not be surrounded 'by Jelly but will possess only their vitel- 

 line membranes which were developed while the 

 egg was in its ovarian follicle. With a 

 wide-mouthed pipette remove some of these 

 eggs to Syracuse dishes containing Standard 

 Solution. 



Onto a strip of abdominal muscle, 

 previously excised and mounted on 

 Permoplast with the coelomlc surface 

 uppermost, place some body cavity 

 eggs and observe under low power 

 magnification. The peritoneal epi- 

 thelium Is highly ciliated in the 

 female and the eggs will be seen to 

 move across the muscle. Movement 

 is in the direction in which the 

 ostium was located in respect to 

 the excised muscle and peritoneum. 

 Eggs remaining within the body 

 cavity may be observed for movement.* 

 In a Syracuse dish place a small 

 piece of black silk and some Stan- 

 dard Solution. Onto this silk place 

 several eggs from the body cavity. 

 There should be no movement except 

 that due to convection currents in 

 the solution. With the black silk 

 as a background, attempt to remove 

 the vitelline membrane of these body 

 cavity eggs. This may be done by 

 piercing the membrane with a very 

 sharp (fine) glass needle and then 

 peeling the membrane off with watch- 

 maker's forceps. This is a rather difficult operation but less so with these eggs 

 which possess no Jelly covering. Proficiency comes with practice. 

 Pipette at least 100 body cavity eggs directly into a normal sperm suspension; 

 leave for 10 minutes; pour off the suspension; and then add Standard Solution. 



Body cavity eggs have not proven fertilizable although insemination does pro- 

 duce surface figures on some of the eggs which strongly resemble amphi-asters, and 

 possibly abortive attempts to cleave. Should any of the Jelly- free body cavity 

 eggs show cleavage, they should be isolated and observed. If it becomes possible 

 to fertilize the body cavity eggs and have them develop normally, without Jelly, 

 it will be a boon to experimental embryology since the artificial removal of Jelly 

 often means damage to the egg. 



The body cavity eggs of an ovulating female could be transplanted to the body 

 cavity of a non-ovulating female and there they would be picked up by body cavity 

 cilia and transferred to and through the oviducts to reach the uteri where they 

 are fertilizable. This can be done simply by making a small abdominal incision in 

 a non-stimulated female, under anesthesia, and transferring the eggs by pipette. 

 The incision can be sewed with silk thread, without particular aseptic precautions. 



OVULATING FEMALE FROG 

 (16 Hours after pituitary injection) 



* Through the author there is available a l6 mm. 

 processes. 



silent moving picture showing these 



