742 STUDIES IN GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY 



eggs indirectly and do not entirely do away with the 

 destructive (autolytic?) processes occurring within the egg, 

 life is not prolonged to the same extent by these means as 

 by fertilization in which case life is prolonged not only 

 through an inhibition of the destructive but also through 

 an acceleration of the synthetical processes. 



That the chemical processes which underlie maturation are 

 not identical with those which bring about fertilization 

 seems to be supported by the observation made above, that 

 the same means the treatment with acid which causes 

 the mature egg to develop and live beyond the bipinnarian 

 stage, inhibits the maturation of the immature egg. When 

 the mature unfertilized eggs of a starfish are introduced 

 for fifteen to sixty minutes into a mixture of 100 c.c. sea- 

 water plus 3 c.c. -^ HC1 90 per cent, of the eggs can. 

 under favorable conditions, develop into larvae. If, how- 

 ever, the eggs are introduced into such a solution for the 

 same length of time before maturation, the maturation of 

 the eggs is prevented either permanently or for a long time. 1 

 The difference is still more striking when the eggs are kept 

 for a shorter time in a mixture of 100 c.c. sea- water and 5 c.c. 

 ^ HC1. This shows that acid affects the process of devel- 

 opment and the process of maturation in opposite or at least 

 different ways. 



We must now raise the question, How does the behavior 

 of naturally parthenogenetic eggs, such as the eggs of bees, 

 harmonize with these ideas? 



In naturally parthenogenetic eggs it seems as if the 

 processes which underlie maturation pass over into those 

 underlying development. But it is possible that this is only 

 apparently the case, and that in reality it so happens that in 

 the processes underlying maturation a metabolic product is 



1 The eggs which finally maturate in spite of the previous treatment with acid 

 often begin to cleave when maturation is complete and develop into larvae, while the 

 control eggs kept in normal sea-water do not develop. 



