Genital System of the Myxinoidea 91 



blood supply and which do not enlarge but atrophy. Table IV shows that Dean saw 

 these small structures in Bdellostoyna hurgeri, and also called them brown bodies. He 

 did not write any notes regarding them; however, and therefore his interpretation of their 

 significance is not known. 



RELEASE OF THE MATURE EGGS FROM THE OVARY 



When the large eggs in the ovary have attained maturity and are enveloped in their 

 membranes, the foUicle, consisting of ovarian tissue which surrounds each egg, bursts 

 thus permitting the egg to escape into the body cavity. Cunningham (1886.2, p. 69) was 

 the first investigator to report the manner in which the mature eggs are released from the 

 ovary. He found several females which had recently discharged their ova. In place of the 

 eggs there was present in the ovary a corresponding number of collapsed follicles, each of 

 which had a slit-like aperture at one end, through which the ripe ovum had been ex' 

 pelled. Cunningham called the burst follicles "corpora lutea," but gave no description of 

 their structure. He found them in old females, and observed various intermediate stages 

 in the process of their absorption, "the last stage being that of minute yellow nodules in 

 the mesovarium." 



Schreiner (1904) caught many "spent" females of Myxine glutinosa which had 

 corpora lutea in their ovaries, but he did not describe the ruptured follicles. Likewise 

 Dean (1899) did not descrjbe the corpora lutea in the spent females of Bdellostoma stouti 

 which he observed. Conel (1917) found two females of Bdellostoma stouti and four of 

 Myxine glutinosa which had corpora lutea in their ovaries. One specimen of Myxine 

 had 27 large eggs and two empty ovarian follicles which had been ruptured along one side, 

 not at one end, as Cunningham (1886.2) observed; it is probable that these two folHcles 

 had been ruptured by rough handling of the eel. Another specimen of Myxine had 33 

 empty follicles which measured 6 mm. long by 4 mm. wide; another female had 30 

 smaller (3 x2 mm.) empty follicles, and a fourth individual had several corpora lutea which 

 were smaller still. The presence of large ruptured follicles in some spent females and very 

 small ones in others was interpreted to mean that the corpora lutea are resorbed. Traces 

 of them, however, remain permanently in the mesovarium as some of the brown bodies. 



Dean left no records in his notes as to his ideas regarding either the manner in which 

 the mature eggs are released from the ovarian follicles, or the fate of the corpora lutea. 

 He made two drawings, however, which clearly indicate his views regarding both these 

 questions. These drawings are shown in Figures 15 and 16, plate IV, and illustrate two 

 female specimens of Bdellostoma (probably B. hurgeri) whose ovaries contain many corpora 

 lutea. The large size of the ruptured follicles in the female illustrated in Figure 15 is 

 evidence that in this individual the eggs had but recently been released from the ovary; 

 and the opening in one end of each corpus luteum shows the place and manner of escape. 

 Figure 16 illustrates a specimen in which the corpora lutea are smaller and somewhat 

 wrinkled; they are evidently involved in a process of resorption. Dean referred to this 



