86 Fish Guitarists' Association. 



Mr. Stone : How is that known ? Who are the authorities? 



Mr. Edmunds : I only state myself, from the personal con- 

 versation with Dr. Hastings, in which he said that the cell- 

 structure was so suddenly changed that it was impossible for 

 him to distinguish when it occurred, and he considered natural 

 impregnation as the same, that it was instantaneous in the 

 running streams, and that the spermatozoa found a foramen in 

 the egg and entered it instantaneously ; that there was no doubt 

 about it at all. 



Mr. Wilmot : Prof. Agassiz investigated the speedy mode by 

 which a whitefish-egg becomes impregnated. He says it is 

 almost instantaneous, and he says almost immediately after- 

 wards it begins to grow, almost instantaneously ; and he gives 

 you a description of that almost every hour afterwards until 

 several days have gone by. So I think these scientific men have 

 indorsed the theory which we have laid down, that it is 

 instantaneous. The immense quantities of spermatozoa that 

 are taken from one male fish are almost innumerable, and the 

 moment they get where the egg is one of them enters, and that 

 is instantaneous. 



Mr. Grekn : I claim that it takes time to do anything, and if 

 it takes time, it is not instantaneous. He gets in as quick as he 

 can, there is no doubt of that, but it is not instantaneous ; it 

 takes him a little time to get in. 



Mr. Phillips : I wish to ask Prof. Milner if he has not made 

 microscopic examinations of eggs immediately after impreg- 

 nation ? 



Prof. Milner : I have made none that I can refer to. I have 

 watched the development, but it is a critical thing to do, and 

 unless a person has had considerable training as a student 

 in embryology, they do not know precisely what they see. In 

 using a microscope it takes a certain amount of time to get 



