It has been assumed very generally that the unfertilised eggs of many animals are surrounded by a clear surface layer, discontinuous with the general protoplasm, which is known as the vitelline membrane. In marine forms this layer is commonly supposed to be separated from the true surface of the egg at the time of, or soon after, fertilisation and then becomes the fertilisation membrane.

1

In all the investigations recorded in this paper all high-power observations were made on eggs suspended in a hanging drop in order to avoid as far as possible any effects due to compression.

Copyright © 1932 The Company of Biologists Ltd.
1932
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