28O R. PEARL AND M. R. CURTIS. 



foregoing description, however, the right gland approached some- 

 what more nearly to the normal than did the left. Whether this 

 organ was even functional, however, in the sense of containing 

 actively dividing spermatogonial cells, cannot be determined from 

 the evidence afforded by the histology of the gland at death. It 

 may or may not have been. One cannot tell. So then again 

 our results on the question as to whether actual spermatogenesis 

 occurred in this hermaphrodite fowl are negative. All that can 

 be positively affirmed is that at the time when the bird was killed, 

 both sexual glands were in an inactive and degenerating condition. 



DISCUSSION OF RESULTS. 



The case above described presents a number of points of con- 

 siderable theoretical interest which we may now, with the facts in 

 hand, proceed briefly to discuss. 



The first point to which we would direct attention is the peculiar 

 combination or correlation of sexual characteristics (primary and 

 secondary) which existed in this bird. Externally it presented a 

 condition essentially similar to the rarely observed antero-posterior 

 gynandromorphism of insects. Anteriorly the bird was male in its 

 external somatic characters ; posteriorly it was female. The truth 

 of this statement may be demonstrated in a striking manner by 

 placing the edge of an opaque card along a line connecting the 

 letters a and b in Fig. I of Plate I. and turning the card about 

 this edge as an axis so as to expose alternately the anterior and 

 posterior parts of the bird. When the card covers the posterior 

 part of the bird what one can see (/. e., the anterior part) is un- 

 mistakably and indubitably male. On the contrary, when the 

 anterior part is covered by the card, what of the bird is then to 

 be seen is equally unmistakably female. The " maleness " and 

 " femaleness " of these two portions of the body extend to the 

 most minute details of structure, perhaps not apparent to anyone 

 not perfectly familiar through first-hand practical experience with 

 poultry and particularly Barred Plymouth Rocks. Thus the 

 beak which is not ordinarily reckoned as a secondary sexual 

 character in this bird is to the fancier unmistakably that of a 

 male. 



It is certainly a remarkable fact that with this perfectly clear 



