10 BULLEXIX 51, r. S. DEP-1ET:'.IE^"T OF AGPJCrLirEE. 
monlT either above or below the normal meridian position. (See 
PL II.) The white is CTeqtientlT thin, and manv times rotigh 
handling, combmed with other age -accentuating conditions, have so 
separated the membrane lining the shell from the membrane inclos- 
ing the egg j)roper that the form and ^^o^ition of the air space can 
change as the egg is turned. This appearance has caused the trade 
term "weak eggs ** or "watery eggs." But because these terms are 
loosely used and have several meanings in different sections of the 
coimtry. or among different candlers, such conditions are charac- 
terized in this report as "movable air cells." this term actually de- 
scribing the change which has occurred. 
In the late simimer and aiuumn. when the lay has fallen off' and 
the country merchants are withholding stocks for coming high 
prices, such eggs form a very large proportion of the current receipts 
of the cities and are. of necessity, used by all of the commtinity 
who depend upon such sources for their egg supj^ly. 
TThen warm weather jDrevails many of these stale eggs show what 
is termed •" heat '* : that is. the yolk rises in the shell and is flattened, 
the wliite becomes thinner than normal, and the air space increases 
in size. These changes, well shown in Plate II. take place in 
fertile and infertile eggs, both of which become distinctly stale if 
kept sufficiently long. In the fertile egg. however, there comes a 
second series of changes, namely, incubation, which, in the very 
earliest stages after the egg is laid, can not be distiaguished by the 
candling method, but has as one of its accompaniments the rising of 
the yolk to the uj^per part of the shell. ^Vhen the shell of a "heated "* 
egg is broken the germinal spot, if fertile, is seen to be slightly 
thickened. In an infertile egg the germinal spot is seen with diffi- 
culty. Such eggs, whether fertile or infertile, are good in. appear- 
ance, odor, and taste, but deterioration is rapid and they will ?]ot 
stand long hauls to market nor keep well in cold storage. Hence. 
such eggs are used in the egg-breaking plants. Their bacterial con- 
tent is shown in Table 4. where it will l>e seen that the bacteria are 
either very few or entirely absent, and that, bacterially, at least, 
these eggs are not to be distinguished from eggs just laid. 
