372 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. LV 



On the one-body view we must reckon with the following pos- 

 sibilities: (1) a rupture of the molecule; (2) the destruction or 

 alteration of the ovophile side-chain. 



VI 



Looked at conservatively, the methods of precipitation alone 

 do not enable us to decide the one-body-two-body issue. The 

 same thing may be said of the results of boiling. One conclu- 

 sion, however, is certainly warranted: there is a constitutional 

 weakness in the amboceptor so pronounced that this molecule 

 breaks down with the greatest ease and, under very diverse con- 

 ditions, always cleaves in a manner that separates the spermophile 

 from the ovophile side-chain. Indeed one doubts whether the 

 amboceptor can hold its ovophile side-chain after the agglutinat- 

 ing group has united with the receptors of the sperm. This, if 

 true, would be awkward for the theory. 



VII 



D. FiLTERABILITY 



Lillie has shown that exudates which have passed through 

 Berkefeld filters no longer agglutinate spermatozoa. The agglu- 

 tinating material, in this case, can be recovered, as Miss Sampson 

 found last summer, by washing the filter-cone in sea-water. In 

 the original filtrate I was able to demonstrate lipolysin. 



able becaus(> of "clirniical adsoi-ptioii. " ' If this is tfiic llicn 

 filtration hecoincs iticrcly another mcthoil for the rhcinii-al de- 

 composition of the amboceptor. Yet, can aeeount in tliis 



very unlikely that the fraction which can be recovered by merely 

 washing the filter-cone, was held chemically bound. Moreover, 

 on account of the metal band which holds the filter-cone in posi- 

 tion, a remnant of the secretion invariably fails to pass through. 

 Tliis reiiuiaiiT ha> a higher agglutinating value than the original 

 exiiihite. It srrnis sa fc to conclude that the agglutinating ma- 



