The material for the present work was obtained from Bhopal fish farm (India). Eggs were fixed in Smith’s fixative, while larvae were fixed in alcoholic Bouin’s fixative. The fixed embryos were dissected out from the egg membrane with great care without the embryos sustaining any injury. Embryos as such without removing the yolk were then treated for section cutting. Following the routine histological procedures 8/u thick paraffin sections were made. The stain used was iron haemato-xylin.
Observations Fertilisation (stage 1) When the eggs are laid in Cyprinus carpio the yolk-free cytoplasm, which is finely granular, forms a thin peripheral layer (fig. 1). It is covered by a membrane–the vitelline membrane–which appears double layered (fig. 2). The egg shows no trace of oil globule or vacuole. There is no polarity in the unfertilised or in the just fertilised eggs. The stage numbers referred in this paper refer to the author’s research paper published in Acta Biologica.