THE CLOACA AND SPERMATHECA OF 

 G YRINOPHIL US PORPH YRITIt US. 1 



JOHANNA M. DIECKMANN, 

 DEPARTMENT OF ANATOMY, SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



The first observations on the cloaca and spermatheca in 

 American urodeles were made by Kingsbury in 1895. He 

 described seven forms. Apparently the development of the 

 spermatheca did not receive attention until recently, when 

 Koehring ('25) described it in Eurycea bislineata. In the present 

 study a description of the form and development of the cloaca 

 and spermatheca in Gyrinopliilns por phyriticus has been at- 

 tempted, and certain observations have been made which throw 

 some light on the question of time of mating and ovulation in 

 this form. 



The material consists of fourteen fully developed adults, six 

 animals which had undergone metamorphosis but were not fully 

 developed, and six larva?. After fixation in Bouin's fluid, 

 formalin or alcohol, the cloacae of all the animals except one 

 adult were imbedded in paraffin and sectioned serially, usually 

 at 12 fj,. The remaining adult was studied under the binocular 

 dissecting microscope. The ovaries of eleven animals were 

 sectioned to determine size of ova and deposition of yolk at 

 different seasons. A single specimen each of Eurycea, Plethodon 

 glntinosus, Plethodon cinerius, and Diemyctylus were sectioned 

 for comparative study. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



The Cloaca in Adults. The mid-sagittal section (Fig. n) 

 shows the main features of the cloaca, namely, a well marked 

 diverticulum located in the dorsal wall above the vent, ahead of 

 this a narrowed portion, which, as it is followed in a cephalic 



1 I desire to express my gratitude for advice and guidance, as well as for material, 

 to Dr. R. R. Humphrey, who suggested this study. 



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