ANIMAL PHODUCTION. 671 



"The fate of yolks or eggs set free in the body cavity depends apparently 

 upon the physiological vigor of the bird. First, they may cause serious meta- 

 iiolic disturbances which result in the death of the bird; second, they may be 

 absorbed rapidly from the general peritoneal surface; or third, they may be 

 walled off by the peritoneum and then absorbed. The material from the re- 

 sorbed yolks or eggs is a})parently utilized in body metabolism since all such 

 birds which were in good health at the time of autopsy were very fat. The 

 removal of the greater portion of an oviduct does not cause the atrophy of any 

 remaining portion. The whole or any remaining part of an oviduct sewed at 

 the funnel, ligated at any level, or with parts removed, passes through growth 

 and cyclic changes coordinated with changes in the ovary exactly as an unop- 

 eratod duct. 



"The stimulation of the advancing egg is necessary for the discharge of the 

 secretion of the duct, since a duct closed at any level functions only to the point 

 where the passage is interrupted. When any iwrtion of the ventral ligament i.s 

 removed it Is not replaced but all remaining portions develop. The forward 

 portion of the ventral ligament is necessary for the reception of the yolk by the 

 funnel. The muscle bundles which arise from the muscular cord in the ventral 

 ligament along the uterus are probably an important part of the normal appa- 

 ratus which expels the egg." 



Studies on the physiology of reproduction in the domestic fowl. — IX, On 

 the effect of corpus luteum. substance upon ovulation in the fowl, R. Pearl 

 and F. M. Surface {Jour. Biol. Chem., 19 {1014), ^'o. 2, pp. 263-278).— In these 

 studies it was shown that " the desiccated fat-free substance of the corpus 

 luteum of the cow, when injected in suspension, in proper dosage, into an actively 

 laying fowl immediately inhibits ovulation. The duration of this effect varies 

 with different birds from a few days up to two to three weeks. After the bird 

 begins ovulating again the laying goes on unimpaired. The same effect is pro- 

 duced by the injection of extracts of the lutear substance, either intravenously 

 or intra-abdominally. The active substance in producing the inhibition is in- 

 activated by boiling." It is stated that these results are of interest zoologically 

 as well as physiologically. It suggests the possibility of finding a chemical sub- 

 stance which will stimulate or activate the ovulation mechanism. Also, " the 

 fact that the same chemical substance inhibits ovulation in mammals and birds, 

 which latter do not possess any organ corresr)onding to the one which produces 

 the substance in mauunals (the corpus lut(>um) suggests that natural selection 

 probably had nothing to do with the evolution of either the organ or the function 

 in the mammals." 



Studies on inheritance in poultry. — II, The factor for black pigmentation 

 in the White Leghorn breed, P. B. Hadley {Rhode Island 8ta. Bui. 161 {1014), 

 pp. 449-460, pi. 1). — This is a continuation of work previously noted (E. S. R., 

 30, p. 71). 



The author demonstrates that the White Leghorn carries in itself all the 

 factors necessary for the production of black pigmentation in the F^ and later 

 generations of crosses with any nonblack ra.ce. In these experiments the stock 

 used was pure White Leghorn and White Plymouth Rock, line-bred for many 

 generations. The crosses were made in only one direction, White Leghorn 

 male X White Plymouth Rock females. The majority of the birds were raised 

 to five months of age, and some were kept until they were mature. On the 

 basis of the hypothesis that the White Leghorn does not carry the factor, or 

 factors, for black pigmentation, but contributes only one of two necessary 

 factors, while the White Plymouth Rock contributes the other, there was a 

 wide departure in the actual results from the expected results; while on the 

 00S53°— No. 7—15 6 



