HOW THE MAMMALS DEVELOPED 20/ 



the developing chick. The shell is porous enough to 

 allow air to pass through it. The blood vessels of 

 the allantois take in ox3^gen and give out carbon 

 dioxide through the porous shell. The blood thus 

 altered is returned to the chick and serves its life 

 purposes. One of the reasons why the chicken must 

 turn its eggs in the nest is that, if the allantois re- 

 main too long in contact with the upper shell of the 

 egg, it will become attached to it and will not there- 

 after perform its functions. 



The embryo thus enclosed in the egg finds its pro- 

 tection in the fact that it is encased in a fluid con- 

 tained in the amnion. It draws its nourishment from 

 the yolk upon which it lives and the nourishment is 

 transmitted to it by blood vessels. It draws its oxy- 

 gen and throws ofif its wastes through the instru- 

 mentality of the allantois, which covers it over. Day 

 by day the chick becomes larger, day by day it grows 

 to look more like what it is to be. By the nineteenth 

 day it appears to be complete. Its nervous organiza- 

 tion is, however, not thoroughly developed. If re- 

 moved from the shell the chick still is indisposed to 

 stand upon its feet or to run about. If allowed to 

 remain in the egg until the twenty-first day, the chick 

 will be able to push its beak through the skin enclos- 

 ing the bubble of air at the blunt end of the egg and 

 get the first breath into its lungs. Now it gives a 



