DISCOVERY OF THE OVARIES. 169 



lation and other functions elsewhere dependent on a 

 special apparatus, was here performed in a direct and 

 general manner. They have not suspected that Re- 

 production takes place in the Anemone, much in the 

 same way as in the fresh-water Polyj)e — not in any 

 special and 'permanent aj^paratus of organs, such as 

 ovary, oviduct, &c., but by a temjporary specialisation 

 of the general envelope, including an accumulation of 

 germ-cells and sperm-cells. I am aware that special 

 organs called ovaries are described in all books, and 

 that some writers describe an oviduct — which only 

 exists in their imagination, for no duct of any kind is 

 found. Of course, no philosoj^hical a priori conclu- 

 sion could be permitted to stand up in contradiction 

 to observed fact ; if the organs are there, it is of no 

 use deductively establishing their non-existence. But 

 are they there ? 



When I first commenced the investigation of Ane- 

 mones, I had no reason whatever to doubt the statement 

 so generally and confidently made, that the convoluted 

 hands were the organs in question. — (Plate III, fig. 3, 

 represents a convoluted band attached to the border 

 of the membrane called the mesentery ; the grape-like 

 mass is the ovary.) At the end of the first week my 

 doubts began. These convoluted bands contained no 

 trace of ova, but instead thereof they contained vast 

 quantities of those thread-capsules which I then be- 

 lieved to be urticating cells. This was the last place 

 in the world where one might expect to find offensive 

 weapons ; and misled by the belief in these ceUs, I 



