INTERSEXUALITY 399 



the opposite sense, as Witschi does, and that some observations 

 can be explained on the ground of the hormonic theory, as 

 Crew assumes. Though Witschi holds the opinion that there 

 are no morphogenetic processes in the frog depending upon 

 sexual hormones, he recognises on the other hand that sexual 

 processes such as that of the clasp reflex may depend upon 

 these hormones. 



The position Witschi takes up in relation to the question of 

 the function of the interstitial cells is a very interesting one. 

 He points out that the testicle at the time of heat is, so to speak, 

 free of fatty inclusions in the interstitial tissue, and he concludes 

 that the hormone production of the testicle during heat cannot 

 take place in this tissue. But on the other hand he thinks that 

 the masculinizing effect produced by different conditions on the 

 frog is brought about by the intermediation of interstitial cells 

 disposed between the primary sexual cords. His opinion is 

 based on purely histological observations. 



We have already mentioned in the foregoing chapters 

 Wagner's (1923) experiments with feeding tadpoles on ovaries, 

 without a sex specific influence having been observed. L. Adler 

 (1920) found, however, that low temperature causes masculini- 

 zation in frogs. He found the thyroid gland to be highly 

 developed in these animals, and he concluded that the thyroid 

 was the masculinizing factor. But it may be objected that in 

 these experiments the external factors conditioning masculini- 

 zation possibly influenced directly both the thyroid and the sex 

 gland. 



As to the toad, we have already mentioned in Chapter VI. 

 the observations and experiments of Harms and of Guyenot and 

 his co-workers. 



Finally, the observations of Champy (1922) on the triton 

 may be mentioned here. He observed a gradual transforma- 

 tion of the male external sex characters into female ones. 

 The gonad was stated to be an ovary. Champy does not doubt 

 that the condition of the ovary, as described by him in detail, 

 and some other sex characters, are signs of the transformation 

 having taken place only recently. The most important point 

 is that the transformation of the sex characters is correlated 

 with the transformation of the sex gland, but there was no 

 formation of mature generative cells. Were these sex 

 characters dependent upon the sex gland? Or were the two 



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