1018 Journal of Agricultural Research vol. vi. no. 2S 



gust i and 2. These were the last normal eggs produced. One more 

 dwarf egg was produced on August 7. On August 29 the bird died of 

 peritonitis. 



At the autopsy a cylindrical dwarf egg was found in the oviduct. It 

 was projecting from the isthmus into the shell gland. The egg had a 

 shell which was thicker at the posterior end. Both the membrane and 

 shell were incomplete at the anterior end. Several days before this 

 bird died an egg similar to this one was found on the roosting boards of 

 the pen in which she was kept. The funnel region of the oviduct was 

 apparently normal. The glandular ridges were smeared over with 

 what appeared to be albumen mixed with a small amount of yolk. At 

 the anterior end of the albumen-secreting region the glandular ridges 

 were very thick, and nodules of what appeared to be glandular tissue 

 projected through the muscular layers. The region was somewhat con- 

 tracted. Behind a narrow band of this tissue the duct was normal. In 

 the body cavity free yolk was smeared over the intestines, and one yolk 

 was walled off by peritoneum just below the ovary. Unfortunately 

 no record was made of the contents of the egg found in the duct. Four 

 of the eight dwarf eggs which were laid contained small drops or lumps 

 of yolk. The other four were yolkless. All eight contained coagula- 

 tion fibers which looked like normal chalazae. The four yolkless ones 

 contained no nucleus except these chalaza-like masses. 



Apparently the ring of pathological tissue formed a partial constric- 

 tion which hindered the passage of normal yolks. Yolks evidently 

 entered the duct and were either extruded into the body cavity unbroken, 

 or were broken and then entirely or mostly extruded. These yolks 

 stimulated the secreting functions of the duct. In case all or most of 

 the yolk was extruded the result was a dwarf egg. Three yolks evi- 

 dently passed the obstruction unbroken and became the yolks of nor- 

 mal eggs. 



Case 3 was that of a bird which was a fair producer during the early 

 part of the season. She laid 1 50 eggs before July 1 and had always made 

 some nesting records. The proportion of nesting records to eggs increased 

 through the spring and early summer. In July there were as many 

 nesting records as eggs. In August only two eggs were laid. The last 

 of these, on August 27, was the last normal egg produced by this bird. 

 From August 30 to October 16 the bird nested on every day except three. 

 The only egg laid during this time was one dwarf, which was produced on 

 September 16. The bird nested twice in November. There were two 

 clutches of nesting records early in December. On December 13 the 

 bird laid an egg which contained a normal yolk but which had a projection 

 like a snail shell on the large end. The projection was formed of a mem- 

 branous tube continuous with the egg membrane and filled with albumen. 

 This tube was folded down onto the end of the other part of the egg and 



