CH. XV] ON THE SHAPES OF EGGS 935 



who first studied the "flowers" of the coral, and who wrote the 

 Histoire physique de la mer; and the specific form as well as the 

 colour and other attributes of the egg have been again and again 

 discussed, and not least by the many dilettanti naturalists of the 

 • eighteenth century who soon followed in Marsigli's footsteps*. 



We need do no more than mention Aristotle's belief, doubtless 

 old in his time, that the more pointed egg produces the male chicken, 

 and the blunter egg the hen ; though this theory survived into modern 

 times t and still lingers on (cf. p. 943). Several naturahsts, such as 

 Giinther (1772) and Biihle (1818), have taken the trouble to disprove 

 it by experiment. A more modern and more generally accepted 



^ A 



.A- 



a b c d e 



Fig. 453. Typical forms of birds' eggs: from A. Mallock. 

 The figures below are pinhole photographs of the eggs. The upper figures (drawn 

 to a uniform scale) shew the generating curves and their evolutes. 



a Green plover. c Crow. e Kingfisher. 



b Humming-bird. d Pheasant. / Owl. 



explanation has been that the form of the egg is in direct relation 

 to that of the bird which has to be hatched within — a view that 

 would seem to have been first set forth by Naumann and Biihle, 

 in their great treatise on eggs J, and adopted by Des Murs§ and 

 many other well-known writers. 



In a treatise by de Lafresnaye||, an elaborate comparison is made 



* But Sir Thomas Browne had a collection of eggs at Norwich in 1671, according 

 to Evelyn. 



f Cf. Lapierre, in Buffon's Histoire Naturelh, ed. Sonnini, 1800. 



% Eier der Vogel Deutschlands, 1818-28 (cit. Des Murs, p. 36). 



§ Traite dVologie, 1860. 



II F. de Lafre.snaye, Comparaison des ceufs des oiseaux avec leurs squelettes, 

 comme seul moyen de reconnaitre la cause de leurs differentes formes. Rev. Zool. 

 1845, pp. 180-187, 239-244. 



