168 THE MINUTE. 



until nearly half of the bulk of the body is filled up with it 

 Then suddenly it is discharged, a soft and shell-less mass, 

 but immediately on exclusion it takes its regular oval 

 figure, and the integument presently hardens into a shell. 

 Patience, moreover, for a few hours will be rewarded 

 by a sight of a living well-formed animal hatched from 

 this new-laid egg. At first it remains so turbid as to be 

 almost opaque ; but in the course of a couple of hours 

 or so, it is perceptible that the contents are becoming 

 pellucid flesh, and developing into- organs and viscera, the 

 integuments and membranes becoming more and more 

 manifest in their overlying infoldings. Another hour 

 passes ; and now the action of the frontal cilia is discern- 

 ible ; at first as faint fitful waves, which, however, become 

 momentarily more vigorous, until at length their lashings 

 are distinct and incessant. Meanwhile the eye has been 

 coming into view, visible first as a pale red tinge in a 

 particular spot near the middle of the egg, and gradually 

 acquiring a definite outline, and a ruby-like translucent 

 brilliancy. After this a little working action is perceived 

 behind the eye, which shews that there the jaws are 

 already developed, and that their proper muscles are 

 assuming form and contractile power. About four hours 

 have now elapsed since the egg was laid ; the movenents 

 of the embryo are now vigorous, sudden, and spasmodic, 

 the folds of the body-integument change their places, and 

 the cilia work more rapidly. Presently, the oval form of 

 the egg undergoes a slight alteration ; it becomes more 

 elliptical, and then slightly constricted in the middle, 



