Genital System of the Myxinoidea . 79 



OBSERVATIONS ON BDELLOSTOMA STOUTI AND BDELLOSTOMA BURGERl 



From the above review of the literature it is evident that there is a division of 

 opinion among investigators as to whether the Myxinoidea reproduce by means of herma' 

 phroditism. Of those who have investigated this subject extensively, Cunningham and 

 Nansen believed that in Myxine glutinosa the method of reproduction is protandric herma' 

 phroditism; the Schreiners agree that most specimens of this eel are hermaphrodites in 

 structure, but found that minute examination of the sex organs in each hermaphroditic 

 individual proves either the male or female sex elements to be sterile; these two investiga' 

 tors concluded, therefore, that Myxine is not functionally hermaphroditic. Cunning' 

 ham believed Bdellostoma forsteri. to be a protandric hermaphrodite, and Ayers claimed to 

 have found some specimens of Bdellostoma stouti containing both ripe 'spermatozoa and 

 almost mature ova. Dean was unable to find any specimens of Bdellostoma stouti which 

 were hermaphroditic in the structure of their sex organs, and raised grave doubts as to a 

 functional hermaphroditism in Myxine. 



Since the question of hermaphroditism in the Myxinoidea remains in this unsettled 

 condition, additional contributions to this subject are most welcome. By far the largest 

 amount of the information presented in the following pages is based upon observations 

 made by Dean on Bdellostoma stouti at Pacific Grove, California, in 1896; and on Bdellostoma 

 hurgeri at Misaki, Japan, in 1900 and 1901. My own contributions consist chiefly of 

 corroborations of Dean's observations. While fishing for Bdellostoma stouti at Pacific 

 Grove, California, during the summer of 1930, I did not keep any detailed record of ob' 

 servations on the genital system, but limited myself to checking Dean's statements. I have 

 had no opportunity to examine Bdellostoma hurgeri. 



HABITAT OF BDELLOSTOMA STOUTI IN MONTEREY BAY 



While fishing in Monterey Bay for Bdellostoma stouti. Dean learned that the hagfish, 

 as it is called, is "curiously local in distribution." Sometimes his fisherman would catch 

 from two to three hundred specimens in one place on six lines of trawl, each line being 

 about 400 feet long and holding 200 hooks; while within one-quarter of a mile from that 

 place, few or no eels would be caught on the same number of hooks. Lines set in a sea' 

 going direction, i.e., at right angles to the shore, would catch an eel on every hook where 

 the line lay over favorable spots. Dean concluded that these favorable spots extend 

 parallel to the shore, and represent a series of large steps leading away from the shore 

 into successively deeper water. 



The bottom in such places was mud, gravel or rock, the eels seeming to prefer mud, 

 as more were caught on that kind of bottom. In some places mostly males were caught, 

 many of them ripe; in other localities principally females were taken. Dean observed that 

 the males were most frequently taken in places where young females abounded. Four' 

 fifths of the eels examined by Dean measured from 38 to 60 cm. in body length; most of 

 them were caught in water from ten to twenty fathoms deep, twelve fathoms being the 



