1034 Journal of Agricultural Research vol. vi, No. 2S 



have been referred to by one of the authors (5), but have not been 

 described in detail. One of these eggs is shown in Plate CXIII, figure 

 4, a. The agar artificial yolk which formed the nucleus of this egg is 

 shown in b of the same figure. This artificial yolk, which weighed 4.32 

 gm., was inserted through a slit in the middle of the albumen-secreting 

 region and pushed posterior to the slit. The duct was tied on each side 

 of the slit. The morning after the operation the membrane-shelled egg, 

 which weighed 14.06 gm., was found on the floor of the cage. 



In another successful case a glass marble coated with vaseline was 

 inserted into the funnel, and the funnel was then closed by sewing the 

 lips together. On the day following the operation the bird laid a hard- 

 shelled egg which weighed 36.17 gm. This egg contained a small lump 

 of vaseline as a nucleus. Six days after the operation the bird died. 

 At autopsy the marble was found caught in the thread that sewed the 

 mouth of the funnel. In this case it was impossible for a yolk to enter 

 the duct, since the funnel lips were sewed together. The stimulation 

 must have come from the marble or the vaseline. 



Tarchanoff (24) notes that he obtained this result in only 1 out of 11 

 cases. The authors obtained a perfect result in only 2 out of 12 trials. 

 Three other results were partially positive. In one case the bird was 

 killed 24 hours after the operation and the agar yolk was found in the 

 upper isthmus covered with a thin layer of thick albumen. In two other 

 cases, where the birds succumbed to postoperative peritonitis, the arti- 

 ficial yolk, surrounded by a thin layer of coagulated albumen, was found 

 in the duct at autopsy. In the other seven cases the artificial yolk was 

 either laid without egg envelopes or was found naked in the duct at 

 autopsy. All the birds used in these experiments were in active laying 

 condition at the time of the operation. Two to three weeks after the 

 operation autopsies were performed on five of the seven birds giving nega- 

 tive results. In two of these the sex organs were in the state to be ex- 

 pected in a bird which had stopped laying two or three weeks previously 

 and was not approaching a new laying period. In the three other cases 

 the sex organs were in functional condition, but no empty follicles were 

 found on the ovary. We have noted elsewhere (16) that "a bird is usually 

 not in laying condition for some time after any serious abdominal opera- 

 tion involving prolonged anesthesia and considerable surgical shock." 

 Sellheim (23) notes that after removal of the oviduct the ovary at first 

 shrinks; but since it comes again into functional condition, he believes 

 that the postoperative shrinking is due to the severe operation. It seems 

 that in the negative and partly positive cases described above the gen- 

 eral physiological disturbance due to the operation may have lowered 

 the general tone of the organism, or possibly the specific tone of the 

 reproductive apparatus, to a point where the duct was unable to respond 

 to stimulation in its normal manner. 



