126 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION 



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OIV THE ITIATURE: illALE .^EXUAIi OR«;}ANS OF THE COlVGER-EEIi 

 (Conger vulgaris), "WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS OTV TH£ iriAr,E OF THE 

 COMMON EEIi (Anguilla vulgaris Fleming).* 



By I>r. OTTO IIERilI£S, 



Director of the Berlin Aquarium. 



Since Syrski, in 1874, discovered the organs in Anguilla vulgaris^ 



S which have been named after him, 



and which have been regarded as 

 the male reproductive organs by 

 himself and most other zoologists, 

 the discovery of a sexually mature 

 male only remained to be made to 

 finally settle the question of the 

 sex. Up to the present time all 

 the efforts made to attain this de- 

 sired result have been fruitless. The 

 histological investigations pursued 

 by S. Freud upon the Syrskian lobu- 

 lated organs, seemed indeed to lead 

 with greater probability to the con- 

 clusion that they were testicular in 

 nature, nevertheless the failure on 

 all hands to find sj^ermatozoa re- 

 mained the missing link in the 

 chain of evidence needed to confirm 

 Syrski's discovery. 



EXPLANATION OF FIGUEE A, p. 126, 

 AND B, p. 126. 



A. Mature male reproductive organs of a 

 specimeu of Conger vulgaris 74<=™ long. 

 Oue-lialf natural size ; a, intestinal 

 canal ; d' , upper, d" , middle, d'" , lower 

 portion of the liver, thrown over to 

 left side; /, swimming-liladder; g, gall- 

 bladder; /i, anal opening; ii, ii, is, ii, 

 lobes of the left testicle; &i, 7^2, fcs, fc^, 

 fcs, tlie five lobes of the right testicle ; 

 I, bursa seminalis ; in, bladder ; p, mem- 

 branous border fringing the free edge 

 of the testicle. 



B. Spermatozoa. 



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*Ueber reife miinnliche Geschlechtstheile des Seeaals (Co«<7er vulgaris) VLm\ einige 

 Notizen iiber den miinnlichen Flussaal (Anguilla vulgaris). Von Dr. Otto Hermes, 

 Director des Berliner Aquariums. Zoologischer Auzeiger, 1881, No. 74, pp. 39-44. 

 Translated by J. A. Ryder. 



