30 BULLETII^ 51, V. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 
Table 10. — White rots {individual eggs). 
Total number of bacteria 
Number 
per gram on plain agar 
of gas- 
incubated at — 
produc- 
Sample 
Date of 
examination. 
ing bac- 
teria per 
Description of sample. 
No. 
gram m 
lactose 
20° C. 
37° C. 
bile. 
3006-2 
Dee. 12,1910 
110,000,000 
15.000,000 
Pale yellow-contents. 
3006-3 
3012-4 
275 
do 
Jan. 14,1911 
July 3,1911 
80.000.000 
295 
3,300,000 

5,500.000 

495 
Aug. 10,1911 
0) 
(1) 
10,000+ 
496 
do 



497 
do 
(0 
(1) 
10,000+ 
498 
do 
120.000 
120.000 

499 
do 



500 
do 
(0 
CO 
10, 000+ 
4070 
Sept. 5,1911 
180,000,000 
270,000,000 
100+ 
Clean sbell; marked shruikage: mov- 
able air cell. 
4110 
Nov. 1.1911 
160 
ISO 

Shell slightly dirty but fresh looking; 
stale odor; marked shrinkage; mova- 
ble air cell. 
1 Innumerable; dilution, 1: 10,000. 
The bacterial content in 8 out of the 12 is very high. Two of the 
eggs were sterile and two of them showed a low count. B. coli 
were looked for 9 times out of the 12 and found 4 times. 
The high bacterial content of these white rots is quite in accord 
with their apjjearance. VThj there should occasionally be a white 
rot with a low count, as in Samples 3012-4, 498, and 4110, or even 
a sterile white rot,^ as in Samples 496 and 499, remains to be ex- 
j)lained. Since these white rots seem to be the logical sequence of 
the mixed egg^ they might easily parallel the latter in their bacterial 
content. 
EGGS HAVING YOLK ADHERENT TO SHELL (SPOT ROTS). 
The '• spot rots " of commerce are eggs in which the yolk has 
become adherent to one or both of the shell membranes and, per- 
haps, to the shell itself by means of the mem^branes. ^Ylien held 
before the candle, therefore, the yolk is seen as a distorted, deeply 
colored mass pressed against some j)art of the shell (see PL TV). 
As the egg ages in temperatures which are lower than those causing 
incubation phenomena, the yolk of either the fertile or the infertile 
egg settles. If the egg is not moved the yolk finally adheres to the 
membrane against which it rests and it becomes a " spot rot " or, as 
termed in this report, an egg with the yolk adherent to the shell. 
If the egg is infertile and ages at such temperatures as prevail in 
summer time, the yolk frequently rises, presses against the air cell, 
and finally sticks there. Fortj^-two such eggs are listed in Table 11. 
When held before the candle some show no marked characteristics 
except the adherent yolk. Others show distinct evidences of incuba- 
tion, general deterioration, cracked shells, etc. 
1 In a dilution of 1 to 10. 
