Cuap. II. ALBUMEN AND EGG SHELL. 501 
o several holes before select- 
excavation. The fact, that these animals oftentimes dig 
ing one for deposit, shows that they exercise a discrimination with regard to the 
fitness or unfitness of these several spots for the encouragement and rapid devel- 
opment of their young. When engaged in digging or laying, notwithstanding their 
habitual shyness at other times, they seem utterly unconscious of any intruder, 
but proceed in their occupation till it is finished, and then, trampling down and 
smoothing over the earth, so that when dry the place of the nest may not be 
noticeable, leave the spot and disappear among their usual haunts. 
She? ON EL. 
DEPOSITION OF THE ALBUMEN AND FORMATION OF THE SHELL. 
Before proceeding to describe the successive deposition of the albumen and shell 
around the yolk, a few words in reference to the functions of the various regions 
of the organ in which these deposits take place, will not be inappropriate. At the 
time of breeding, the bloodvessels of the ovary are unusually full, as if gorged with 
blood; and the black pigment cells so much increased, that the fold of the mesen- 
tery, to which the ovary is suspended, appears blackish, and black streaks accom- 
pany and overlie each bloodvessel’ (PI. 9b, fig. 9, 9a). Though numerous Tur- 
tles were opened from day to day, at the time when the eggs were passing from 
the ovary into the oviduct, (fig. 10,) yet so rapidly does this process go on, that 
not only was it impossible to catch the ege droppmg from the one and entering 
the other, but even to find a single egg in or near the anterior part of the last- 
named organ. In one instance, however, the Fallopian tube was found in a state 
of turgescence, immediately after fecundation, and the trumpet gaping, as if open 
to receive the eggs dropping from the ovary. In all cases where the eggs had 
entered the oviduct, (fig. 11,) they were found in its lower part, some with shells, 
and others without this covering, and again a few with but little albumen around 
them. This we might almost have conjectured, had the thin, semitransparent 
nature of the pavilion and the immediate neighboring portion of the oviduct 
been considered from this point of view. 
However, there need be no doubt now that at least one half, if not more, 
of the oviduct serves for just what its name indicates, merely to conduct the 
1 Tt will be shown in another connection, that the appearance of bloodvessels, and stands in direct re- 
formation of pigment cells precedes everywhere the lation to their formation. 
