93

Newport in Phil. Transact. 1853 Part II. p. 253, 256, 258 — on excess of spermatozoa stopping development of egg of Batrachians— shows this clearly get gives reference to same result by Spallanzani & Quatrefages on other animals, & how they accounted for it — Newport believes or suspects in part, owing to gelatinous covering being so thickly studded with spermatozoa that respiration checked. I can hardly believe this, considering their minuteness. —

Reference:

Newport, George. 1853. On the impregnation of the ovum in the amphibia. (Second series, revised.) And on the direct agency of the spermatozoon. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 143(143) (December): 233-290.

[Cross and self fertilisation, p. 24: "After having acted in this manner during two seasons, I remembered that Gärtner thought, though without any direct evidence, that an excess of pollen was perhaps injurious; and it has been proved by Spallanzani, Quatrefages, and Newport,† that with various animals an excess of the seminal fluid entirely prevents fertilisation."]