Prof. OweEn’s Description of the Lepidosiren annectens. 349 
three-sided, with their broadest flattened surface turned forwards and covered 
by the peritoneum. The ureter* rans along their posterior and outer edge, 
and opens into the common termination of the oviducts. The kidneys are 
surrounded by a capsule of cellular membrane, beneath which there is a 
quantity of intense black pigment: the same pigment is developed from the 
membrane surrounding the oviducts above the kidneys. There is a small Al- 
lantoid bladder. 
Generative System. 
The ovariaf are compressed bodies between four and five inches in length, 
situated, as above described, at the sides of the abdominal cavity; having a 
proper capsule beneath the serous investment, and with their posterior extre- 
mities continued a little way beyond the posterior line of reflection of the 
peritoneum. The ovisacs exhibited different stages of development: those on 
the posterior part of the ovarium were larger than those on the anterior. The 
larger ova are from one line to two lines in diameter; these were scattered 
throughout the whole length of ovary, and were separated by clusters of smaller 
ovisacs varying in size from one twentieth of an inch to invisible minuteness. 
The oviducts{ are long, tortuous, and commence each by a distinct aperture 
at their anterior part, which is in the form of a slit, about three lines in length ||. 
The oviduct is closely attached throughout the greater part of its course to 
the outside of the capsula ovarii: its tunics gradually increase in thickness as 
it approaches the cloaca, but are nowhere complicated with a special glandu- 
lar apparatus. The internal surface of the lower third of the oviduct presents 
small parallel oblique laminze, like those in the uterus of the Shark. The two 
oviducts unite and form one strong muscular canal between the allantois and 
the ureters; and after receiving the contents of these parts, the common canal 
terminates in the posterior part of the cloaca. 
Thus the female organs of generation in the Lepidosiren, both as regards 
the condition of the ovaria, caused by the partial or successive development of 
the ova, and the freedom of the oviduct, present a grade of development as 
high as that which characterizes the Plagiostomous Fishes ; while the elongated 
* Tas. XXVII. fig. 7, i. + Ib. . t Tas. XXV. fig. 1. g.; and Tas. XXVII. fig. 7, L, l. 
$ Tas. XXVII. fig 7, m, m. Ib. m, n. 
