Yolk-formation is an extremely complex process.

The yolk seen as the yellow part of the egg is the result of a great number of chemical and morphological changes. The latter have been very well described in many works on the behaviour of intra-ovular organelles (mitochondria and Golgi elements) during yolk-formation. The former have been the subject of only very few works up to the present.

Histochemically, yolk-formation has been much better studied. But the majority of these studies has been limited to the examination of fat, non-saturated acids, lipoids, glycogen, and, in more recent times, of thymonucleic acid. The behaviour of saturated fatty acids, cholesterol, proteins, and salts has not formed the subject of any histochemical study.

We propose to fill these gaps. As material for study we have chosen the hen’s egg.

Up to now we have studied histochemically the behaviour of the cholesterol, iron, fixed ash, nuclear (thymonucleic...

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