SEXUAL ORGANS. 43 



spermatophoi-es disperse their contents in the branchial cavity of 

 the male during the sexual union, and that the compact cylinders 

 of sperms thus dispersed pass into the branchial cavity of the 

 female, where they slowly disaggregate. The male, after having 

 enlaced his arms with those of the female, bringing together 

 their ventral surfaces, expels the spermatozoa, rolled into a pellet 

 through its siphon along with the respired water, and they then 

 enter the branchial cavity of the female, along with the current 

 of inspiration. The arms remaining interlaced during the entire 

 period of accouplement, do not appear to play any other role 

 during this act. 



Lafont has sometimes seen the male Sepia, when sexually 

 excited, insert his arms of the third and fourth pairs on the left 

 side into his left branchial opening, whence they are withdrawn 

 after some minutes, but without bearing any spermatophores upon 

 them ; nor with any other indication of the reason of this move- 

 ment. See, for very interesting and detailed observations on this 

 subject, Lafont's memoir, in Annales des So. Nat.^ 5 ser., xi, 

 1869. 



In the " Actes de la Societe Linneenne,'' of Bordeaux, 1872, 

 M. Lafont continues an account of his observations. He states 

 that a Sepia FLlliouxi deposited its eggs in one of the basins of 

 Arcachon, on the 23d of May, 1870, attaching them to a Zos- 

 tera. Taking it from the water, he found all around the mouth, 

 attached by the large end, a certain number of little sacs tilled 

 with spermatozoa. Replaced in the water, the animal continued 

 to oviposit. In again examining it, at the end of about a half- 

 hour, he saw that the number of sperm-sacks had diminished, 

 not more than a dozen remaining. As soon as again put in the 

 water, a male approached and a sexual union took place. He 

 immediately examined the female again, and found the mouth 

 surrounded by spermatophores attached to the buccal membrane. 

 After this examination, the animal was permitted to continue 

 ovipositing, which she did for more than two hours. It is evi- 

 dent, says M. Lafont, that these spermatophores serve to fecun- 

 date the eggs at the moment when they pass out of the siphon 

 and when the female takes them between her arms. Since that 

 period more than half of the females of Sepiae and nearly all 



