GONADS AND THE PITUITARY BODY 



lization occurred, developmental abnormalities frequently 

 appeared. 



The gonadotropic efecis of implants or extracts of the an- 

 terior pituitary in reptiles.'^ — In the ^Vid^^^Xenodon merremi^ 

 Houssay (1931) found that the administration of homo-im- 

 plants (five) was followed by the expulsion of eggs after less 

 than a week. According to Cunningham and Smart (1933), 

 the lizard, Lacerta viridis, can be made to extrude fully de- 

 veloped eggs after the injection of an extract of the pars 

 glandularis. The most complete experiments in reptiles ap- 

 pear to have been those of Forbes (1934), who studied the 

 gonadotropic effects of extracts of the sheep pituitary in im- 

 mature alligators {Alligator mississippiensis). The extract 

 caused a hypertrophy of the gonads more marked in the 

 male. In both sexes the hypertrophy appeared to be due 

 chiefly to a proliferation of the germinal epithelium. The dis- 

 appearance of the Wolffian ducts in the female, and of the 

 Miillerian ducts in the male, was accelerated. 



The gonadotropic effects of implants or extracts of the anterior 

 pituitary in birds. — The interrelationship between the pitui- 

 tary and the ovary or testis of the bird has been investigated 

 in the fowl, the pigeon, and the duck. In the majority of the 

 experiments different varieties of fowls have been used. 



I. The female fowl. — In 191 5, Clark reported that the feed- 

 ing of the pars glandularis of growing mammals appeared not 

 only to cause an increase in the number of eggs laid by hens 

 but also, in the case of fertilized eggs, to increase the number 

 of chicks hatched. The only author who in part confirmed 

 Clark's results was Gutowska (1931), who believed that the 

 oral administration of an acetone-desiccated anterior-lobe 

 powder daily for a month caused hens to lay a slightly in- 

 creased number of eggs which were larger than those of nor- 

 mal hens. This effect was most clearly obtained late in the 

 winter. All other attempts to repeat Clark's work have failed 



'Also see Herlant (1933). 



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