325 



NOTE ON THE PRESENCE OF VESTTGTAL 



MUELLERIAN DUCTS IN A FULL-GROWN MALE 



LIZARD (AMPHIBOLURUS MURICATUS). 



By Jas. p. Hill, F.L.S., Demonstrator of Biology, Sydney 

 University. 



In a paper^ on "The Vestigial Structures of the Reproductive 

 Apparatus in the Male of the Green Lizard," Howes has described 

 some interesting cases of the persistence of the Miillerian ducts in 

 males of this species. In one male observed by him the oviducts 

 were " all but fully developed," while in another a complete 

 oviduct was present on one side ; in a large number of specimens 

 examined by him, remnants of the oviducts were found in the 

 form of more or less isolated membranous tubes with blind ends, 

 present on one or both sides. Other oljservers have noted their 

 presence in allied genera and species, but, so far as I am aware, 

 they have not been noticed in any Australian genus. In an 

 adult male lizard, Amphiholurus Qnuricatus, a form common in the 

 scrubs round Sydney, which I dissected lately, well-marked rudi- 

 ments of the Miillerian ducts were present. A number of other 

 males were examined, but none showed any trace of Miilleiian 

 ducts ; so that in this genus it appears they are not so generally 

 ])resent as in Lacerta viridis. 



In the specimen observed, the male genital organs resemble, in 

 essential detail, the condition in Lacerta viridis. The epididymes, 

 that of the right side attached to the outer edge of the testis, that 

 of the left to the dorsal surface of the corresponding testis, were 

 supported by the broad ligament attached in fiont to the pigmented 

 peritoneum of the dorsal body-wall. The Miillerian ducts were 

 represented by two blind membranous tubes, 29 mm. in length 

 and 2 mm. in greatest breadth, running along the outer margins 



* Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, Vol. xxi. p. 185. 



