Mechanism of Membrane Formation 213 



but possessed some other shape. In such eggs the egg mem- 

 brane at the start followed the contour of the egg. This proves 

 that the primary factor in membrane formation is the swell- 

 ing of a substance lying on the surface of the egg, similar to 

 that which forms the chorion. The swollen substance then be- 

 comes more and more liquid. Immediately after the forma- 

 tion of the membrane it can be caused to collapse if we add a 

 protein to the sea-water, which shows that in S. purpuratus 

 only liquid matter lies between membrane and protoplasm. In 

 some cases of artificial parthenogenesis, e.g., by bases or by 

 fatty acids, in Arbacia we observe instead of a fertilization mem- 

 brane a fine film surrounding the egg. It is possible that in 

 this case the sweUing is less complete and the membrane re- 

 mains gelatinous. There may be all kinds of transition stages 

 between the gelatinous film and the cases with a typical fer- 

 tilization membrane separated from the protoplasm by a 

 hquid. 



The existence of a colloid substance within the membrane 

 chamber can be established by direct observation. For it can 

 be seen that the fluid between the membrane and cytoplasm 

 contains a constituent of somewhat higher refractive power 

 than the sea-water. 



6. We have already mentioned that substances like ben- 

 zol, saponin, etc., can cause both membrane formation and 

 cytolysis. 



The first of the two is produced when they have time to 

 affect only the surface of the egg; cytolysis is produced when 

 their effect extends to the deeper layers of the egg. 



Now the cases of cytolysis afford a very pretty demonstra- 

 tion of our theory. For since the greater the fraction of the 

 egg which comes under the effect of the membrane-forming 

 reagents, the greater the amount of colloid that must be lique- 

 fied; hence a greater osmotic pressure should be set up by com- 

 plete cytolysis than by simple membrane formation, and hence 



