152 



CURIOUS FORMATION OF AN EGG. 



CURIOUS FORMATION OF THE EGG OF THE 



COMMON FOWL. 



Communicated to the Society, February 1, 1866, by N. T. True, M. D. 



This egg, an outline of which is given above, was taken from a 

 nest in Bethel, Maine, in August, 1865. It consists of two shells 

 of the ordinary consistence of calcareous deposit, joined at nearly 

 a right angle by a siphon of the same substance connecting their 

 smaller ends. Where the shells are in juxtaposition, the walls 

 are reduced to a mere film, (the calcareous deposit apparently 

 wanting,) so that the parts are chiefly held together by the si- 

 phon. The most singular fact about them is that the smaller bulb 

 was entirely filled with yolk, while the larger contained nothing 

 but the albumen occupying the entire cavity. The larger shell 

 measures 4-J inches, the smaller 4£ inches in circumference, taken 

 at their shortest diameters. The siphon is -J inch in diameter and 

 f inch in length. Length of contact 1 inch. The specimen is 

 preserved in Dr. True's cabinet at Bethel. 



