2 26 H ARC ITT. [Vol. II. 



Considerable inquiry failed for some time to elicit any in- 

 formation of similar cases. Later a report was made by Mr. 

 Charles Dury, of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, of 

 a somewhat similar case of a monstrous egg laid by an ostrich 

 in the Cincinnati Zoological Garden. Of the exact size of this 

 Qg% no data were given. Its similarity consisted chiefly in the 

 fact that the center of the monstrosity was a normal egg. 

 About this, as a sort of nucleus, there had been formed some 

 twenty concentric layers of what the report simply indicated 

 as a sort of tough, leathery-like substance, but which, I infer, 

 was probably a toughened albuminous mass. Whether the 

 whole was enclosed within a second shell the report did not 

 designate. 



Another case was brought to my attention by Prof. O. P. 

 Jenkins, at that time of DePauw University, later of Stan- 

 ford University. It was apparently of the same general char- 

 acter as the first one referred to. The same observer also gave 

 me the record of a similar q^^ laid by a turkey-hen. In this 

 case the egg was, as in the former, larger than the normal, and 

 contained an inner one of somewhat smaller than normal dimen- 

 sions. They were similar in all essentials, though with this 

 difference : that while the outer shell was colored the usual way 

 of turkey eggs the inner shell was pure white, thus giving rise 

 to the remark of the one first reporting it, " that it was a tur- 

 key's egg with a hen's egg inside of it." 



Among several other cases of a similar character which have 

 come within my observation one has some features of peculiar 

 interest. It was reported to me by Prof. Charles H. Gilbert, 

 of Stanford University, who, though he did not personally see 

 the ^gg, vouched for the substantial accuracy of the facts. The 

 egg was taken from the nest almost immediately after its de- 

 posit, and was of the unusual size of those already designated. 

 Like those, it was of the same double character throughout. 

 But the matter of special interest was in the fact that within 

 the inner was an embryo chick of considerable development. 

 A letter from Professor Gilbert on the subject contains this, 

 account : " From the manner in which the details were given 

 to me, I have no doubt that it was a bona fide case, and that 



