TRANSPORTATION OF SPERM OUTSIDE GENITAL TRACT OF MALE 191 



In the male of the gymnophionan amphibia, a definite protrusible copula- 

 tory organ is present as a cloacal modification, and fertiHzation occurs within 

 the oviducts (fig. 109). Extensible copulatory organs are found generally in 

 reptiles and mammals, and are present also in some birds, such as the duck, 

 ostrich, cassowary, emu, etc. In most birds the eversion of the cloaca with 

 a slight protrusion of the dorsal cloacal wall functions very effectively as a 

 copulatory organ. 



b. Methods of Sperm Transport Within the Female Reproductive Tract 



1) When Fertilization Is in the Lower or Posterior Portion of the Genital 

 Tract. In many of the urodele amphibia, fertilization is effected apparently 

 in the caudal areas of the female genital tract or as the egg passes through the 

 cloacal region. It is probable in these cases that sperm motility is the means 

 of transporting the sperm to the egg from the ducts of the spermatheca or 

 from the recesses of the folds of the oviduct. 



2) When Fertilization Occurs in the Upper Extremity of the Oviduct. In 

 several species of salamanders, fertilization of the egg and development of 

 the embryo occur within the oviduct. Examples are: Salamandra salamandra, 

 S. atra, Hydromantes genei and H. italicus, all in Europe, and the widely 

 spread neotropical urodele, Oedipus. The latter contains many species. The 

 exact region of the oviduct where fertilization occurs is not known, but pre- 

 sumably, in some cases, it is near the anterior end. Weber ('22) suggests that 

 fertilization may occur normally in the peritoneal cavity of Salamandra atra. 

 In these instances, the method by which the sperm reach the fertilization 

 area is not clear. It is probable that motility of the sperm themselves has 

 much to do with their transport, although muscular contraction and ciliary 

 action may contribute some aid. 



On the other hand, studies of sperm transport in the female genital tract in 

 higher vertebrates have supplied some interesting data relative to the methods 

 and rate of transport. In the painted turtle, Chrysemys picta, sperm are de- 

 posited within the cloacal area of the female during copulation; from the 

 cloaca they pass into the vaginal portion of the oviduct and thence into the 

 uterus. It is possible that muscular contractions, antiperistaltic in nature, propel 

 the sperm from the cloaca through the vagina and into the uterus. It may be 

 that similar muscle contractions propel them through the uterus up into the 

 albumen-secreting portions of the oviduct, or it is possible that sperm motility 

 is the method of transport through these areas. However, once within the 

 albumen-secreting section of the oviduct, a band of pro-ovarian ciha (i.e., 

 cilia which beat toward the ovary) (fig. IIOA, B) appears to transport the 

 sperm upward to the infundibulum of the oviduct (Parker, '31). Somewhat 

 similar mechanisms of muscular contraction, antiperistaltic in nature, and 

 beating of pro-ovarian cilia are probably the means of sperm transport in 

 the pigeon and hen (Parker, '31). Antiperistaltic muscular contractions are 



