Chemical and Physical Properties of Semen 3 1 



(mg, /ejaculate). This method of expressing the findings of semen 

 analysis is very useful particularly in the evaluation of pathological 

 abnormalities in the composition of semen. The data in Table 5, 

 especially those relating to rabbit semen, show that the variations 

 in the absolute content of fructose per single ejaculate are much 

 less than those in concentration; the reason being that a rabbit 



1-5 % 



012 34S6 789 10 



Time (weeks) 



12 13 14v 



Fig. 6. Relation between volume (( 



and content of fructose (0 — 

 and citric acid {% •)/« rabbit semen 



(Mann & Parsons, 1950) 



•) of ejaculate 



-0)" 



ejaculate is usually made up of two main portions, gel and fluid, of 

 which the latter is relatively constant whereas the quantity of gel 

 is subject to considerable fluctuation. Fructose, however, is con- 

 fined chiefly to the fluid portion and consequently, its absolute 

 content in semen varies little. On the other hand, citric acid, another 



