FERTILISATION 



193 



place at the end of the first minute after the addition of the sperm to 

 the eggs, we get even more striking figures. The oxygen consumption 



Fie 60. -The insemination of the eggs of ,SV/c.ocirr«s while these are undei- 

 goinK growth in the ovarian tissue. The long l.lack rod-hke body m the 

 cytoplasm of the primitive ovocytes is the spermatozoon. It will be 

 seen that the ovnm develops from a very early stage with the «P«-n^tozoon 

 in its cytoplasm, actual fusion of sperm and female pronudeus only taking 

 p^ace after the eggs are laid and have undergone meiosis, (From Buchner s 

 Praktiliim der Zdhmlvhre, Bd. i., Borntraeger.) 



of the unfertilised egg is so low, however, that its measurement for 

 so short a time is difticult with the quantity of eggs usually employed 

 {\ to 1 million eggs) in an experiment, as usually no reading can 



7 



