42 



RALPH S. LILLIE 



This last phenomenon was observed in several series; those of 

 July 25 and July 26, in table 6 (eggs treated with butyric acid), 

 show it in part ; two other series where a still higher proportion of 

 eggs formed larvae after simple membrane-formation, illustrate 

 this behavior more definitely. These series are summarized in 

 table 7. 



TABLE 7 



The unfertilized eggs were treated for one .minute with a solution of 6 cc. njlO acetic 

 acid plus 100 cc. sea-water, at about one-and-a-quarter hours after removal from 

 the starfish. After ten minutes in normal sea-water they were ex-posed for thirty 

 minutes to the solution, then returned to sea-water. 



AFTER-TREATMENT 



July 6 



July 30 



1. None (acid treatment alone) 



2. Hypertonic sea-water 



3. m/1000 KCN 



4. 5 and 6 v. % ethyl alcohol.. 



5. 2.5 V. % n-propyl alcohol... 



6. 1 V. % n-butyl alcohol 



7. 0.25 V. % n-amyl alcohol. . . 



8. 1/5 saturated capryl alcohol No experiment 



30-40 % of eggs form 



larvae 

 No apparent increase 

 Decrease; ca. 10 % lar- 

 vae 

 All .dead next day 

 All dead next day 

 All dead next day 

 ca. 30 % larvae 



70-80 % form larvae 



Slight decrease; 65-75 %. 

 Slight decrease ; ca. 60 % 



All dead next day 

 All dead next day 

 All dead next day 

 A few larvae; ca. 1 % 

 ca. 30-40 % larvae 



Controls. Normal: almost all fertilized eggs from larvae. Unfertilized eggs 

 undergo coagulation without membrane-formation or cleavage. 



In these experiments the after-treatment not only effected no 

 improvement, but on the contrary was definitely injurious. It 

 would thus appear that the after-treatment is favorable only with 

 those eggs which are unable otherwise to recover a normal con- 

 dition. Eggs which are able spontaneously to recover from the 

 effects of the initial cytolytic action are unfavorably affected by 

 the subsequent anti-cytolytic treatment. As already suggested, 

 this treatment appears to be essentially compensatory in its action; 

 and merely aids in restoring what might be called a condition of 

 physiological equilibrium. Hence, with eggs that spontaneously 

 revert to the normal state after membrane-formation, the 

 addition of the after-treatment is likely to result in over-com- 



