MosELEY ') fouiid spermatozoa lying in the body cavity of the 

 female, seems to be an argument for the suggestion of Wiiitman ; 

 yet the presence of openings in the ovarian walls, as described 

 before, makes it possible that those spermatozoa have wandered 

 through them from the ovary into the body cavity. In my pre- 

 parations I find a few spermatozoa in the body cavity, but only 

 in the neighboiirhood of the ovaries. The real purpose of the 

 openings of the ovarian walls however must be another: through 

 them the eggs, coming from the body cavity, reach the lumen 

 of the ovaries. This is the only manner, in which the presence 

 of ova in the cavity of the ovaries can be explained. The varia- 

 bility of the shape of the eggs in the body cavity makes it 

 probable, that they possess an amoeboid locomotion and in this 

 manner can reach the perforations of the ovarian walls. What 

 is the stimulus directing them in the right way, only can be 

 guessed at ; it can be a chemotaxis or perhaps a current in the 

 coelomic fluid, caused by the movements of the spermotozoa; 

 the fact mentioned, that spermatozoa are often lying in the 

 openings, seems to be an argument for this suggestion. 



Of course the possibility exists, that those eggs, which arise 

 on stalks in the neighbourhood of the perforations, fall directly 

 into the openings aften their liberation, without moving first 

 through the body cavity. The egg, figured in fig. 8, seems to 

 demonstrate this case. It is still attached, as show the next 

 sections, but nevertheless it has already a small pseudopodium 

 pointing in the direction of the neighbouring opening. 



Probably fertilization takes place soon after the penetration of the 

 i}gg into the ovary. I did not sec stages of this process, nor of the 

 maturation-cleavages. The youngest eggs lying free in the ovarium 

 already possess a thick membrane, but the nucleus is still undi- 

 vided (fig. 9). The next stage, observed by me, contains a great 

 number of nuclei, which are obviously irregularly scattered ; cell- 

 boundaries are not visible (fig. 9). This stage agrees much 



1) 1. c, p. 708. 



