260 VERA KOEHRING. 



spermatozoa being drawn up into the spermatheca at the time 

 of reception instead of attempting the larger passages of the 

 cloaca, oviducts or even rectum. 



IV. 



SUMMARY. 



The spermatheca of Eurycea bislineata is a compactly walled-in 

 set of tubules in the arrangement of a miniature "cat-o'-nine- 

 tails"; the tails are the bulbed or flask-like storage tubules and 

 the long curved handle is the central tubule which is both 

 entrance and exit for spermatozoa. The organ develops slowly 

 in the median dorsal wall of the cloaca during and after meta- 

 morphosis until the autumn before the first egg-laying season, 

 when, more rapidly, the majority of the tubules are formed, 

 pigment appears forming the walls and sockets for the tubules 

 and the columnar lining of the system is completed, proliferating 

 back, probably, from the central tubule. 



The author expresses profound appreciation for the help and 

 advice of Dr. Harris Hawthorne Wilder and Mrs. Inez Whipple 

 Wilder in the preparation of this paper. 



MATERIAL AND TECHNIQUE. 



Aside from dissections of fresh and preserved material, fifteen 

 female Eurycea were sectioned. In size these vary from 45 mm. 

 to 95. mm. total length. Specimens were killed in September, 

 October, November, February, April and June. All were de- 

 calcified and sectioned entire from the ovary to a point caudal 

 to the vent of the cloaca to preclude any distortion of the 

 cloacal region. Bouin's fixative was generally used though some 

 of the young animals were preserved in formalin. Fourteen 

 were stained with hematoxylin-eosin and one with muci-carmine. 

 Most of the series are transverse; two are frontal and two 

 sagittal. The drawings are made with a projection apparatus. 



