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 cc. sea- 
water plus 3 cc. %, HCl 90 per cent. of the eggs can, 
under favorable conditions, develop into larve. 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.’ 
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. 
#5; HCl. 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 iscomplete and develop into larve, while the 
control eggs kept in normal sea-water do not develop. 
Digitized by Microsoft® 
