MARINE LIFE 173 



was noticed. It soon lost its doughnut-like appear- 

 ance. The yolk, protoplasm and nucleus seemed to 

 swim or travel from place to place in the egg. This 

 action continued about two hours. Meanwhile the 

 outer skin of the egg expanded slightly, leaving a 

 clear ring of space between it and the egg contents, 

 protecting it in that way from over-fertilization. 



In about two hours, the egg began to elongate, the 

 movement inside became more rapid, the sides com- 

 menced to constrict and a line formed across the egg, 

 the indentation continued until the two equal parts 

 slightly separated and then touched again. These 

 now almost round cells side by side within the outer 

 oval skin started to divide, which in twenty minutes 

 brought the oval shaped mass back into its original 

 spherical form. This division was kept up for about 

 ten hours. Now by the act of fertilization there were 

 a thousand tiny cells still confined in the original 

 size, skin-containing wall. Starting with the egg in its 

 resting stage, fertilization, active life, cell division, 

 metosis; and so life begins. 



There is now such a complexity of cells it is im- 

 possible to pick out any one and the mass has in some 

 way developed the ability to move and under the 

 microscope that movement is quite rapid. Then the 

 outer skin breaks, the egg so recently a mass of cells 

 has hatched, and the life struggle of the new baby 



