Diagnosis of pregnancy in the squirrel monkey

Diagnostic pregnancy assessments have been carried out in 18 squirrel monkey females using Delfs' method for chorionic gonadotropin bioassay palpatory, x-ray and other auxiliary techniques. Out of the 24 bioassay tests performed, 11 were positive (one of them weakly positive) and 13 negative. These results were confirmed by the other parallel measures, except in two cases of possible false positive reactions. No false negative results were noted. The implications of the results are discussed in terms of the sensitivity and reliability of the bioassay in the early diagnosis of pregnancy in the squirrel monkey.