No. 2.] AMPHIUMA MEANS. 395 



TJlc Gcnito-7irinary Systein. 



The kidneys are leguminoid bodies located immediately an- 

 terior to the hind limbs. In my largest specimens they meas- 

 ured four centimetres in length. The ureter is very short. 

 The urinary bladder is exceedingly elongated, extending from 

 the termination of the liver to the cloaca. Cope has assented 

 tlmt AmpJiiinna has only one testis, but I fijid pahrd testes ex- 

 tending from the liver half ivay to the vent. In alcoholic speci- 

 mens they are of a brownish spongy texture. They are attached 

 to the body wall by folds of the peritoneum. A mesonephric 

 or Wolffian duct is present as a thick-walled tube running in 

 a straight course from a point near the gall bladder to the 

 urogenital sinus. The vesicula seminalis is a thin-walled tube 

 ending blindly in front near the gall bladder and extending in 

 a convoluted course to a common opening with the meso- 

 nephric duct into the urino-genital sinus. The vasa efferentia 

 are present as delicate tubes arising from the testis and empty- 

 ing into the Wolffian duct, which acts as a vas deferens. The 

 ovaries are very slender bodies lying a short distance posterior 

 to the liver. The oviducts extend along the dorsal side of the 

 body wall, terminating in the urogenital sinus. It has for a 

 long time been a question whether the eggs of Aniphinma are 

 fertilized internally or externally. I published a short article 

 relating to this subject last April (7). I am now fully con- 

 vinced that internal fertilization takes place. 



In the early part of the spring of 1893 I secured a male 

 specimen of Amphinma a trifle over a metre in length in 

 Northern Tennessee. This animal was the largest of its kind 

 on record, and was found farther north than any previously 

 discovered. On examining the vent I found exuding a viscid 

 substance which, when placed under the microscope, revealed 

 numerous spermatozoa. The inner walls of the vent were 

 covered with dense papillae on their posterior parts. These 

 papillae under the microscope proved to be the orifices of nu- 

 merous glands which secreted the almost colorless waxy sub- 

 stance in which the spermatozoa were lodged. The ajtterior 

 parts of the internal ve?it xvalls are furnished ivith fro7n fftcn 



