THE SPERM ATHECA OF EURYCEA BISLINEATA. 1 



VERA KOEHRING, 

 SMITH COLLEGE, NORTHAMPTON, MASS. 



Since 1785 it has been known, first through Spallanzani, that 

 fertilization in salamanders is internal. Later there were found 

 at intervals in several species "receptacula seminis" into which 

 spermatozoa are received and stored. So far as is known in most 

 species of salamanders the spermatozoa are transferred some 

 time before egg-laying to the cloaca of the female by means of 

 spermatophores deposited by the male and received by the female 

 either actively or passively, the method of deposition and re- 

 ception varying somewhat in the few species which have been 

 noted at breeding. 



The "receptacula seminis" or spermathecse 2 of several forms 

 has been noted by Rathke (1820), Leydig ('53), Siebold ('58), 

 Jordan, Fisher and Stieda ('91), and Kingsbury ('95). The 

 work of Dr. Kingsbury is especially important as a comparative 

 study of the spermathecee of Necturns maculatus, Diemyctylus 

 viridescens, Desmognathus fuscus, Amblystoma punctatum, Ple- 

 thodon glutinosus and Spelerpes bislineatus (Eurycea bislineata). 

 In all of these forms the spermatheca is dorsal to the cloaca and 

 consists of a number of tubules. These tubules open severally 

 into the dorsal wall in Necturus, Diemyctylus, and Ambystoma 

 and cover comparatively large areas in this region. In Des- 

 mognathus, Plethodon and Eurycea the organ is more compact 

 and opens by a single central tubule into the cloaca. 



Kingsbury describes but one specimen of Eurycea bislineata 

 taken in October and containing no spermatozoa. It is the 

 purpose of this paper to continue the work on Eurycea, describing 

 the mature spermatheca at various seasons and in the course of 

 its development. 



1 Contributions from the department of Zoology, Smith College, No. 131. 



2 Dr. H. H. Wilder calls attention to the fact that the correct word is Sperma- 

 totheca, using the root of the word (spermato-) instead of the nominative 



stem. 



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