106 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



"The reproductive organs of Conger vulgaris are very similar to those 

 of Anguilla vulgaris ; in the undeveloped condition they show the ovaries 



lying in the same position in a 

 jS. S cuft-shaped band of a propor- 



tionally large size. Since C. 

 ^ vulgaris reaches nearly twice 

 the size of .4. vulgariSj individ- 

 uals of G feet in length are not 

 rare. The ovary is developed 

 in the captivity, and this, I am 

 convinced, is often the cause of 

 the death of the eel. In a Con- 

 ger which died in the Berlin 

 Aquarium, and was cut open, 

 the ovaries protruded very ex- 

 tensively, and a specimen which 

 lies in the Frankfort Aquarium 

 burst on account of the extraor- 

 dinary development of the ova- 

 ries. The ovaries of this eel, 

 which weighed 22 J pounds, 

 themselves weighed 8 jiounds, 

 and the number of eggs was 

 about 3,300,000. The want of 

 a natural opening for the escape 

 of the eggs was evidently in 

 this case the cause of death. 

 Male specimens of the Conger 

 in an undeveloped condition I 

 have hitherto never had the op- 

 I)ortunity to investigate. I re- 

 ceived, however, in the fall of 

 1879 a number of sea-eels, taken 

 in the vicinity of Havre, whose 

 average length was from 24 to 

 27 inches. These eels ate greed- 

 ily and grew rapidly. Only one 

 was tardy in its development, 

 so that it could be easily distin- 

 guished from the rest. This, 

 which was the smallest of the 

 Congers in the aquarium, died 

 on the 20tli of June, 1880, and 

 I was very much delighted when 

 I found the sexual organs very different from those which I had ever 

 noticed before. After a single cut into them, there flowed out a milky 



Fig. 9.— a, ripe male reproductive organs of a Conger-eel, 

 thirty inches in length, ^ natural size. 



a, intestiuul canal. 



d', upper, d" mifldle, d'" lower portion of the 

 liver, wliich has been thrown to one side. 



/, air-bladder. 



g, gall-bladder. 



h, anal ajierture. 



ii, ij, r.i, u, Ibld.s of the left spermary. 



ki, fcj, ks, fcj, kr„ folds of ihe right spermary. 



I, seminal pouch. 



-m, urinary bladder. 



p. skinny covering of the spermary. 



£, spermatozoa. 



was examined bv me on the same day. 



