Abortive parthenogenesis in the domestic chicken

As yet, the question of parthenogenesis in the domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) has not been properly settled. Oellacher (1872) answered the question in the affirmative, Lau (1894) and Barfurth (1895) in the negative. The matter then remained in abeyance until LBcaillon, in a series of papers published between 1908 and 1910, reconsidered the problem and concluded that the unfertilized hen’s ovum undergoes a form of parthenogenetic cleavage. (His memoire of 1910, cited in the bibliography, lists the series in full.) Lillie in the second edition of his book, The Development of the Chick (’19), makes no reference to Li6caillon’s work. He cites, however, the already mentioned paper of Barfurth in the bibliography of the book and states that “the so-called parthenogenetic cleavage of such eggs (i.e. infertile eggs. I.L.K.) is merely a phenomenon of fragmentation of the protoplasm. There is no true cell-division”. Bartelmez and Riddle ( ’25) found evidence of parthenogenesis in the pigeon. The purpose of the present paper is to re-open the subject in the light of the more recently developed histochemical techniques which aid in the interpretation of strictly morphological data.