74 ARTIFICIAL PARTHENOGENESIS AND FERTILIZATION 
has, therefore, nothing to do with the activation of the egg. 
The question arises: What is its function ? 
We receive an answer to this question when we observe 
what becomes of the eggs at room temperature after the 
Fig. 19 Fig. 20 
Fies. 19 and 20.—Beginning of the process of disintegration after the arti- 
ficial membrane formation in the egg of S. purpuratus. Small droplets appear at 
the equator of the elongated egg. 
membrane formation. In this case the centrosomes and two 
astrospheres are formed and the nucleus may divide, but then a 
process of disintegration begins in the egg. Small droplets 
appear usually on one side of the egg (Figs. 19, 20). One gains 
the impression that these droplets begin to be extruded at the 
_——" 
Fig. 21 Fig. 22 
Fies. 21 and 22.—Eggs of the same lot, showing more plainly that the droplet 
formation and disintegration begin in the plane of cell-division. 
time of the first cell division. This is obvious from Figs. 
21 and 22, where the droplets appear in the plane of segmenta- 
tion. In Figs. 19 and 20 they appear in the equatorial plane 
of eggs which are not segmented, but which show the elonga- 
tion in the direction of the two poles. 
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