28 



FEMALE BITTERLING 



b. The reaction to extracts from the adrenal cortex. As! 

 we know, a number of steroids have already been isolated 

 from the adrenal cortex, without justifying the contention 

 that the "true" cortex-hormone (if it exists as such) has been 

 discovered. Fig. 33 shows the ovipositor growth-curve 



Fig. 



02 4 6 B 10, 12 



hours 



33. Ovipositor growth curves after administration of 

 aqueous adrenal cortex extract. 



obtained with an aqueous extract from 4 g of adrenal gland 

 tissue from a cow. The curve shows a latent period of 3 

 hours, while the period of linear growth continues until 9 

 hours after the start of the experiment. It is extremely 

 improbable that the reaction is the result of corticosterone 

 and/or progesterone, since in that case the latent period would 

 have been i hour. It is also improbable that androgenic and/or 

 estrogenic substances were involved, in view of the strong 

 effect of only 4 g tissue-extract per 750 ml aquarium water. 

 Even if these hormones were present in the water their action 

 would be completely dominated by that of one or more 

 steroids not identical with either progesterone or corticoster- 

 one — or desoxycorticosterone — or with the active com- 

 ponent of Cortine "Organon", the growth-curves of which 

 are shown in Fig. 34. The latter extract, however, produces 

 curves with a latent period of 2 hours, while the period of 

 linear growth is 5 hours. In Fig. 35, the typical differences 



