243 



deposited ovum did not understand, and have shown how the polar 

 threads grow as processes of this membrane, Müller having con- 

 sidered them as of cellular nature, parts of the follicular epithelium. 

 The aperture which Müller described as micropyle I have not seen, 

 instead of a hollow at the point he describes there is a process growing 

 out towards the ovum, and producing the raicropylar aperture in the 

 vitelline membrane. 



As regards the structure of the testis I was anticipated by Müller, 

 his description and mine being practically identical. But the discovery 

 of hermaphroditism in Myxine, of the abundance of hermaphrodite 

 individuals and the probability of nearly all females being hermaphro- 

 dite when young, was made by me ; and the spermatozoa, with stages 

 in their development were also described by me for the first time. 

 Max Weber then must have neglected to read either my paper or 

 W. Müller's or both when he made the unfounded assertion that my 

 results were already contained in W. Müller's account. 



I have next to consider Herr Weber's own remarks on the 

 subject. He says the eggs develope in follicles in a manner similar 

 to that which holds for other Vertebrata. This fact was first established 

 by me. He states that it follows from the researches of W. Müller 

 and myself that the shell (egg-membrane) and polar threads are 

 products of the secretion of the follicular epithelium. The micropyle is 

 also due to these cells. 



These results follow from my researches and not in any degree 

 from those of W. Müller. Herr Weber then refers to the Göteborg 

 fertilized ova which were known to W. Müller but not to me; he 

 adds nothing at all to the knowledge gained by Müller from these 

 ova. He next discusses the period of oviposition, saying that even less 

 than myself has he attained to definite conclusions on the matter : my 

 investigations led to what appeared to me the certain conclusion that 

 oviposition was limited, in the neigbourhood of St. Abb's Head, to the 

 time of year between the beginning of November and the beginning 

 of April. Herr Weber obtained eggs which had no threads from Al- 

 värströmmen in August and from Gaso (Bohuslän) in May and con- 

 cludes, with very little reason, that oviposition takes place at these 

 localities some months later than the times mentioned, that is to say 

 about October and November at Bergen, about August and September 

 on the coast of Bohuslän. The latter supposition is confirmed by the 

 fact that the Göteborg fertilized eggs were taken in August 1884. Now 

 this last fact is of course conclusive, butHerr Webe r's own observations 

 give no information as to the period of oviposition, for there is nothing 

 to show how long the ova whose stage of development he so inade- 



