Genital System of the Myxinoidea 89 



In 1917 (p- 124) I wrote further regarding this subject as follows: 



The fact that, as noted above, there are no intermediate stages between eggs about 2 

 mm. long and the large ones, and that also in animals which have corpora lutea, the eggs 

 present do not exceed 2 mm., is interpreted to mean that as soon as some eggs exceed 2 mm. in 

 length all the other eggs are arrested in development until the larger ones have matured and 

 have passed from the body, and their corpora lutea are well along in the process of 

 degeneration. 



A short list of data written by Dean on the margin of one page in his small notebook 

 indicates that he also noticed that when corpora lutea are present in the ovary there are 

 no large eggs. His list is reproduced here, designated as Table IV: 



TABLE IV 

 NOTES FOR PRESERVED SPECIMENS OF BDELLOSTOMA BURGERI EXAMINED BY DOCTOR DEAN 



According to this table, the largest eggs in females with corpora lutea were about 

 5 mm. in length, whereas the largest eggs in females with corpora lutea examined by me 

 were about 2 mm. long. The eels listed in Tables II and IV are specimens of Bdellostoma 

 hurgeri, while those which I examined in 1917 were specimens of Bdellostoma stouti and 

 Myxme glutmosa. With one exception (Figure 13) Dean's drawings of adult females, 

 shown in Figures 6 to 14, inclusive, bear evidence of the fact that in the ovary of each 

 female with either corpora lutea or large eggs the next longest eggs measure about 5 mm. 

 in length, with no intermediate sizes. 



Nowhere in his notes did Dean offer any explanation for this phenomenon; my coiv 

 elusions, however, may be stated as follows. When the largest eggs in a female have 

 reached a length of about 2 to 5 mm., only a comparatively few continue to enlarge, while 

 growth processes are arrested in all other eggs in the ovary until the large eggs have 

 developed to maturity, have been extruded, and their empty egg follicles (corpora lutea) 

 have been almost completely resorbed. I venture to offer the suggestion that a more or 

 less remote explanation for these growth phenomena may be found in the blood supply to 

 the ovary; but, of course, this will not explain ultimate causes. 



In all females containing eggs longer than 2 to 5 mm. the larger eggs number from 

 about 25 to 45, more or less, and are distributed rather uniformly along the entire length 

 of the mesovarium, excepting in the posterior two or three centimeters (Figures 10 to 14, 



