732 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



It is generally admitted that the eggs, when loosened from the ova- 

 ries, fall indiscriminately into the abdominal cavity, but it is not said 

 which w,.y they take in order to go out through the genital aperture. 

 As I have invariably found that the fully-developed ovaries lean with 

 their onter surface against tbe side of the abdominal cavity, and approach 

 with their free edges the lower portion of this side, forming, so to speak, 

 a furrow, I must conclude that the loosened eggs descend between the 

 abdominal partition and the folds and leaflets of the ovary in the above- 

 mentioned furrow, and from it pass to the genital aperture without 

 scattering in the abdominal cavity. 



As to the development which the ovaries undergo, I have observed, 

 from the end of November till the beginning of March, in many adult 

 eels, of the length of 530 millimeters and more, that the ovaries were of 

 the breadth of 15 to 25 millimeters, and of a yellowish and sometimes red- 

 dish-white color, produced by the development of adipose tissues and of 

 the blood-vessels, and not by the eggs filled with little globules of fat ; 

 the genital aperture and the Jissura recto-vesicalis were open. 



In other eels of a length sometimes of 600 millimeters and more, I 

 found the ovaries less broad, with but little fat, and of a mucous and 

 almost glassy appearance, so that I could discern the so-called vesicles 

 and germiuative dots {nuclei and nucleoli)) the genital aperture and 

 the Jissura recto-vesicalis were closed. 



The ovaries of young eels, of the length of about 500 millimeters, con- 

 tained invariably but little fat, and the eggs were without globules. 

 The gradual growth and enlargement of the ovaries go on simultane- 

 ously with the opening of the genital orifice. According to the quantity of 

 fat contained in the ovaries, they have a mucous and glassy, or more or 

 less opaque or white, appearance, or have small shining white dots. 



From the end of March till October, I found in the majority of eels 

 which I examined, measuring 600 to 700 millimeters in length, that the 

 ovaries were scarcely white, and that the genital aperture was closed. 



The number of eggs contained in both developed ovaries reaches, 

 according to my calculation, five millions. Tbe larger eggs measured by 

 me had a diameter of one-fourth to one-fifth millimeter, while the eggs of 

 an adult "grongo" (Conger) had, accordingto my measurements, a 

 diameter of one-third of a millimeter, and those of the " murena" (Murama 

 helena) almost one millimeter, which explains to me why the ovaries of 

 the two last-mentioned species of fish have long since become known. 



In an eel measuring 590 millimeters, examined on the 6th July, the 

 left ovary was entirely wanting, aud replaced by a mass of fat. 



THE SPERMATIC ORGANS. 



The position of these organs, (fig. 20), which are not ribbon-shaped 

 like the ovaries, but represent two longitudinal rows each with about 

 fifty lobules (fig. 21) of the width at most of three millimeters, and found 



