ANIMAL PRODUCTION, 877 



Agr. Intel, and Plant Diseases, 2 (IDII), So. 7, pp. 1727, 1728).— In experi- 

 ments with an Italian cocic and Italian and Wyandotte hens, eggs laid 6 days 

 after mating were infertile. The fresher the eggs the more i-eliable were the 

 results of incubation. The hatching quality was affected by the season. Eggs 

 once heated by the incubator required some time to cool. The heating of 3 

 incubators, each containing 200 eggs, was interrupted for 24 hours, leaving the 

 eggs at the temperature of the room in which they were placed, without causing 

 injury to the chicks. 



The effect of sperniatoxin on the fem.ale organism and the ovum, M. P. 

 TuscHNOW (JJchen. Zap. Kazan. Vet. Inst., ,?.S {1911), 'Nos. 1, pp. 1-83; 2, pp. 

 103-20/,; abs. in Zentbl. AUg. u. Expt. Biol., 2 (1911), No. 13-15, p. 360).— In 

 experiments with rabbits, dogs, and sheep the inoculation of the female with 

 living spermatozoa prevented pregnancy. It is thought that a substance toxic 

 to the spei'm was formed in the blood. 



Can the spermatozoon develop outside the eg'g? J. Loeb and F. W. Bancroft 

 (Jour. Expt. Zool., 12 {1912), So. 3, pp. 381-386, pis. 2).— In experiments with 

 the fowl the sperm was removed aseptically and kept in a sterilized, moist 

 chamber at about 39° C, but was always used soon after its removal from the 

 animal, not later than 3 hours after it was taken out. Cultures were made on 

 media containing egg yolk, egg albumin, blood serum, and other substances. 

 It was found that in the yolk and the white of egg the spermatozoon under- 

 went transformation into a nucleus, though mitosis or asterformation was not 

 observed. 



On the isolation of oocytase, the fertilizing- and cytolyzing substance in 

 mammalian blood sera, T. B. Robertson (Univ. Cal. Pubs., Physiol., 7, (1912), 

 No. 11, pp. 93-102). — A fertilizing substance was obtained from the blood serum 

 of an ox which was capable of causing eggs of sea urchins to form a fertilizing 

 membrane. This fertilizing agent, which appears to be derived from the break- 

 ing down of corpuscles in shed blood, is thermostabile. resisting an exposure of 

 19 hours to a temperature of 5S°, and being analogous to the cytases observed 

 by Metchnikoff and others. It is therefore named oocytase. 



Investigations on uric acid production and the nucleoproteid formation iu 

 chick embryo, L. S. Friderici.v (Skand. Arch. Physiol., 26 (1012), No. 1-3, pp. 

 1-120, figs. 4). — A historical resume of investigations on the metabolism of the 

 incubating egg. together with the author's recent analytical work on protein 

 metabolism. 



A small amount of uric acid was found in the allantoic fluid and extremities 

 of the embryo, which was produced from the tenth day until the last day of 

 incubation. From the fourteenth to the seventeenth day the amount was in 

 proportion to the weight of the embryo. Only very small amounts of purin 

 bases were found in infertile and unincubated eggs, but during incubation they 

 were produced from the eleventh to the seventeenth day. and iu proportion to 

 the weight of the embryo. 



A bibliography is appended. 



On the interchange of the limbs of the chick by transplantation, Florence 

 Peebles (Biol. Bui. Mar. Biol. Lab. Woods Hole, 20 (1910), No. 1, pp. V,-1S, 

 figs. 3).— It was found possible to develop chick embryos in porcelain cups in a 

 moist chamber up to the ninth day. The leg bud when removed was successfully 

 grafted on the proximal part of the wing and the wing bud on the proximal 

 portion of the leg without permanently injuring the embryo. The grafted part 

 became a part of the appendage to which it was attached instead of retaining 



