How Large is the Mammalian Egg?: A Review

Abstract

The world''s information on this subject, with some original data, is here brought together. Tables of living ovarian, living tubal, fixed ovarian, and fixed tubal ova are included. It is pointed out that only from the living egg can the exact size be judged. Photographs of the living eggs freshly removed from the organs would seem to be the best method of recording the data; so far, with few exceptions, the extensive collection of such photographs at the Carnegie Laboratory of Embryology are the only ones that have been made. The author in a table presents his own estimate of the true size of the egg of various mammals. The bibliography of 173 annotated titles should prove useful because of its completeness.