A CASE OF TRUE LATERAL HERMAPHRODITISM IN A PIG 

 WITH FUNCTIONAL OVARY. 



By George W. Corner. 



That variety of true hermaphroditism which is characterized by the presence 

 of an ovary on one side and a testis on the opposite side is one of the rarest forms 

 of structural abnormality of the genitalia. No undoubted cases have yet been 

 reported in man, and but two instances have been observed in swine. Some idea of 

 the rarity of the condition may be gained from the results of a systematic examina- 

 tion of 500,000 swine made in the Berlin municipal abattoir, under the direction 

 of Ludwig Pick (1914). In this series of animals five cases of hermaphroditism 

 were observed, but none of them was of the lateral variety, a mixed gland (ovo- 

 testis) on one or both sides being present in each. 



Reuter (1885) described the case of a two months' old pig, discovered among 

 a litter which also contained two pseudohermaphrodites. This animal possessed a 

 right testis and a left ovary. The ovary was very small but contained ova in 

 primordial follicles; the testis contained numerous interstitial cells, but apparently 

 there were no germ-cells in the tubules. On the side on which the testis was located 

 the uterus ended in a rudimentary Fallopian tube. 



Kingsbury (1909) recorded the examination of a young adult pig with male 

 external genitalia. There was a normal-looking uterus with a rudimentary left 

 ovary and a large right testis with a typical epididymis. On the right side the 

 Fallopian tube ended in a diminutive blind sac. The ovary contained a few ova 

 in follicles; the testis had the typical structure of a crytorchid testis, with numerous 

 interstitial cells but without germ-cells in the tubules. 



DESCRIPTION OF SPECIMEN. 



The author's specimen, consisting of the uterus, tubes, and ovaries of an adult 

 pig, was found among a number of uteri which had been brought in from a neigh- 

 boring slaughter-house for study; therefore no information is at hand concerning 

 the history or appearance of the animal from which it came. 



The uterus was normally formed (fig. 1), presenting two cornua as usual. Its 

 size corresponded to that of the uterus of a young, sexually mature sow. On the 

 right side the uterine cornu ended in a normal Fallopian tube in connection with 

 a normal ovary; the latter contained four recent corpora lutea, one of them cys- 

 tically dilated. On washing out the contents of the tube with saline solution, one 

 ovum was found, normal in all respects except that the cytoplasm was slightly 

 shrunken; one polar body had been extruded. The left uterine horn, normal in 

 size and form, ended in a very slender tube about 1 mm. in external diameter near 



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