22 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 337 



The data in Table 13 show that 18 hens and 4 roosters from families free of 

 neurolymphomatosis produced 1631 eggs from which 1292 healthy chickens 

 were hatched. This is an average production of 90.6 eggs per hen for the period 

 under investigation. The hatchability for this flock for the same period was 

 79.21 percent. For comparison, the average figures for the 1932 and 1933 birds 

 with neurolymphomatosis were 10.2 eggs per hen and 64.5 percent hatchability. 

 The average production for the 1934 and 1935 birds with neurolymphomatosis 

 was 75.05, and the hatchability 61.20 percent. Hence it is evident that the 

 control flock, or the birds free from neurolymphomatosis, produced more eggs 

 with a somewhat higher hatchability than the two flocks with neurolympho- 

 matosis reported in this study. The loss from neurolymphomatosis in the 1932 

 and 1933 flocks was 12.30 percent, in the 1934 and 1935 flocks 5.50 percent, 

 and in the control flocks none. 



Neurolymphomatous Cells in the Seminal and Follicular Fluids 

 of Roosters and Hens Affected with Neurolymphomatosis 



The discovery by Burrows and Quinn (1935) of a method for obtaining 

 spermatozoa from roosters and the application of the same to the study of the 

 follicular fluid of hens was of considerable assistance in the investigations which 

 follow. This technique would have been of assistance in determining the course 

 of the infiltration into the ovaries and testes of the birds on the previous experi- 

 ments had it been known. 



In this work the semen and follicular fluids were collected on clean micro- 

 scopic slides, air-dried, and the smears stained either with Leishmann's stain 

 as advocated by Downham and Crompton (1934) or any other stain with which 

 the investigator may be familiar. At first Unna's alkaline methylene blue and 

 eosin was used and the preparation compared with histological sections of 

 diseased nerves stained by the same method, until some experience had been 

 obtained in identifying the cells in the stained smears by the vesicular arrange- 

 ment of the nucleus (Gibbs and Johnson, 1936). 



Before the method of Burrows and Quinn was known, the birds on the 1932 

 and 1933 experiment had either died or been killed for necropsy and histological 

 study, so the semen and follicular fluids of these birds were not examined. 

 Likewise the 1934 and 1935 project was about completed, since most of the 

 original hens and roosters had either died or were incapable of breeding. How- 

 ever, roosters F-387, F-393, and F-492 and hens F-1064, F-24, M-986, 

 M-4269, M-2397, E-1025, and F-1063 were living, and microscopical exam- 

 ination revealed structures indistinguishable from neurolymphomatous cells 

 in the semen of rooster F-387, which were not evident in that of roosters F-393 

 and F-492. A check-up on the history of these birds, shown in Table 10, 

 revealed some interesting but rather indefinite data which indicate that this 

 rooster may have played a part in the transmission of neurolymphomatosis 

 through the egg. 



As indicated in the table, rooster F-387 was mated to hens F-1064 and F-24. 

 From these matings seven eggs were secured and five healthy chickens hatched; 

 however, three of the chickens, F-1064— C-8, F-1064— C-9, and F-24— C-2 

 came down with the disease when 290, 302, and 237 days old, respectively 

 (Table 12). Thus rooster F-387 produced one normal and two paralytic 



