ifos] Bitter-Bailey— Weight of Developing Eggs. 9 



As is seen by the table, with few exceptions the eggs lost grad 

 ually in weight, and I believe these exceptions to be due to errors 

 in manipulation and to dirt which got on the eggs in spite of the 

 filtering and which could be seen even with the naked eye. (The 

 sea-water was full of micro-organisms which clogged the filters 

 and continually passed through unto the eggs. ) When the weigh- 

 ings were brought to a close, the animals were still several weeks 

 from hatching, and their mouths hud not nil opened. The in- 

 vesting membrane was intact so do solid material could have got- 

 ten in from the exterior or passed out from the interior of the 

 eggs. The loss in weight must have been due to carbon dioxide 

 (C0 2 ) and organic salts representing the albuminoid loss, which 

 had passed out through the egg-membrane and been washed away 

 in the sea-water. 



R. Pott 3 gives some figures on the weight of hen's eggs at dif- 

 ferent hours of brooding. I reproduce a portion of one of his 

 tables to show the general similarity of the results, viz., a gradual 

 loss of weight as a whole as development proceeds. 



a UntersuehuDgen iiber die chemipchen Veranclerungen im Hiihnerei wah- 

 rend der Bebrutung. Die landwirthsch. Versucli- Station, B<1 XXIII 1879 

 pp. 203-247. 



