ABSTRACT
According to the hypothesis advanced by Løvtrup (1958) the supply of oxygen is one of the factors responsible for the determination of bilateral symmetry in amphibian embryos. The protein coat covering the outside of the egg is known to have a very low permeability (Holtfreter, 1943), and it was suggested in the hypothesis that the formation of the grey crescent consists in a stretching of this coat by which the permeability is increased (cf. the work of Dalcq & Dollander (1948) and of Dollander & Melnotte (1952) on permeability of Nile blue), in this way the radial symmetry of the egg is changed to a bilateral symmetry from a metabolic point of view. As a consequence of the increase in permeability those oxidative, energy-supplying processes which are associated with gastrulation are enabled to proceed at a higher rate at one side of the egg. This hypothesis can of course only be valid for eggs which require oxygen for gastrulation. In some amphibian species, particularly in toads, gastrulation may occur under anaerobic conditions (Waddington, 1956). It seems necessary to assume that the bilateral symmetry is somehow built into the structure of these eggs.
