Artificial Parthenogenesis in Thalassema Mellita lOi 



Minutes. 



cc. — HNO, 4- 8^ cc. sea-water S 



10 ^ -^ ^ 



i<;cc. — HCI + Si; cc. sea-water \ 



■^10 



'^ 

 10 cc. — H2SO4 + QO cc. sea-water 8 



20 



m 



12 CC. — Oxalic acid -f 88 cc. sea-water 8 



20 



m 

 I C cc. — Acetic acid -|- 8<; cc. sea-water c 



10 -" 



In the case of CO2, the gas was passed from a generator into 

 sea-water for ten minutes and the eggs immersed in the charged 

 water for one hour, after which they were transferred to pure sea- 

 water.^ The result was very satisfactory and usually about 50 

 per cent of swimming larvae were obtained by this method. 



Although a wide range of solutions and exposures were tested 

 in the case of each acid, in the table on page 12 are placed a few 

 results which are selected from a great many experiments and 

 which will serve as characteristic illustrations. 



After determining by experiment the optimum solution and 

 exposure in the case of each acid, satisfactory results were usually 

 obtained by adhering more or less closely to such conditions as 

 experience had proved to be the best, but an examination of the 

 following table will show that the expectation was not always 

 fulfilled. For example, in Nos. 3 and 4, when the same solution 

 of HNO3 and the same exposure were employed, one experiment 

 yielded 40 per cent of swimming larvae, while the other gave only 

 5 per cent; and again, in Nos. 5 and 6, 60 per cent and 25 per 

 cent were obtained, respectively, from an equal exposure to the 

 same HCl solution. It is difficult to assign causes to this seemingly 

 capricious difference in the relative proportions of developing 

 eggs in experiments carried on under conditions as nearly identical 

 as possible. 



In addition to the variability of the results obtained in different 

 experiments, where the same solutions and exposures were used, 



^ A "sparklet apparatus was not available at the time my experiments were made. 



