146 



BIOLOGICAL LECTURES. 



the last stages of ripening. The explanation for this scarcity 

 of ripe females which has been applied to the case of Myxine, 

 viz., that the pregnant females, when the egg-laying time 

 comes on, cease to eat, and consequently are not to be 

 taken either in baited pots or on trawl lines, must suffice 

 for Bdellostoma until we have a better one. Other causes 

 may be operative here, but nothing is known with certainty 

 of the conditions of life which surround the q^^ laying and 

 embryology of Bdellostoma. 



Fig. 12. — A side view of the sexual gland of an hermaphroditic Bdellostoma 

 dombeyi. a and /», cross-sections of the gland at the points indicated by the 

 arrows, v, the dorsal blood vessel, below which the gland is suspended as a 

 double fold of the peritoneum. /. o7\ ovary. A-, testis. /•". nearly ripe eggs. 

 e, very young ova. f, testicular follicles. 



Some individuals of Bdellostoma arc truly hermaphroditic, 

 having at the same time a genuine testis with ripe sperm and 

 an ovary with eggs nearly or cpiite ripe. These individuals are 

 rare, so far as my experience goes, but others with the two 

 organs in a more unequal state of development are more 

 numerous. However, by far. the largest number of individuals 

 are genuinely male or female. Males are much more numerous 

 than the females, but this statement applies only to the catches 

 which I had the opportunity of examining. It may be merely 

 a coincidence, or on the other hand it may faithfully represent 

 the true conditions of things in the Bay of Monterey. All 

 things considered, I believe a preponderance of males represents 

 the ordinary condition. 



The sex of 209 out of 354 individuals was noted, and they 



