FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS IN OVARIOTOMIZED 



FOWL. 



H. D. GOODALE, 

 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



In several castrated Brown Leghorn females certain develop- 

 ments of particular interest have taken place. These de- 

 velopments relate not only to the plumage and other external 

 characters but also to certain structures associated with the 

 reproductive organs. In brief, these individuals developed male 

 plumage and other male characters. After a time, however, 

 certain changes in the plumage of some individuals took place, 

 best described as a change to or toward the female type, as the 

 case might be. Still later, the plumage changed again to or 

 to\vards the male type. Usually, the development of female 

 plumage in poullards is to be referred to a regeneration of the 

 ovary but an examination showed that no regeneration had 

 occurred in these individuals but that instead an organ sui 

 generis had grown. A portion of the organ has been removed 

 from each bird and sectioned. Its structure clearly is neither 

 that of the ovary nor that of the testes. The exact nature of 

 these organs cannot be determined at present, although their 

 structure suggests that they have some relation to the epididymis. 

 On the right side in normal females, both ducks and fowl, a bit 

 of tissue is sometimes found on the spot corresponding to the 

 site of the ovary on the other side. From this body a strand 

 can sometimes be traced posteriorly. While this body has some 

 resemblances histologically to that of the organs developed in 

 the castrated females, it is impossible to assert that the latter 

 results from the hypertrophy of the former, even though there 

 are many other reasons for drawing this conclusion. To demon- 

 strate the assumed relationship between the structures will 

 require a considerable series of stages which are not at present 

 available and whose collection will require some time. 



The history of these cases may now be considered in detail. 



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