106 



Bidder's organ ^), and this sems to suggest that a careful examination 

 of both the male and female genital glands of the toad might throw 

 some light upon the precise nature and significance of Bidder's organ. 

 The whole question has recently been reopened by la Valette S. 

 George (16), who describes and figures a very interesting herm- 

 aphrodite newt, which seems to be the most complete case of herm- 

 aphroditism yet recorded among the Amphibia. The specimen (Triton 

 taeniatus) was a male with perfectly distinct and independent paired 

 ovaries, but however without any traces of oviduct. The absence of 

 oviducts is somewhat perplexing, as Müller's duct is usually well 

 marked in the male newt. The testes contained developing and fully 

 developed sperms, and the ovaries eggs in various stages of maturity, 

 of which one is figured at the stage when the nucleus commences to 

 shrink. It is not the purpose here to enter into a discussion of the 

 essential meaning of Bidder's organ , but it may be stated that 

 LA Valette S. George, with Van Wittich, Jacobson, and Mar- 

 shall, still continues to regard the toad as a potential hermaphrodite 

 — thereby differing from Bidder, Leydig, and Spengel. 



Histology. 



Miillerian ducts. The left Miillerian duct was quite normal 

 in its minute structure, all the three layers of the oviducal wall being 

 represented, with goblet cells in large numbers. The posterior portion 

 of the duct was filled with mucous. The histology of the right duct 

 anteriorly could not be made out, owing to bad preservation. The 

 walls of the duct at this region were very thin, and enclosed a large 

 lumen opening into the body cavity as above described. Posteriorly 

 the three characteristic layers with goblet cells were easily distin- 

 guishable. 



Left genital gland or ovo-testis. The structure of the 

 genital gland on this side is extremely interesting, and supplies a 

 parallel case to Marshall's frog D, in so far as though to all external 

 appearances an undoubted ovo-testis, yet it contained but a single very 

 degenerate ovum ; whilst the apparently normal testis contained a single 

 true ovum. The ovo-testis ovum lay in a fibrous capsule -55 mm long 

 and -38 mm broad. The ovum itself was 46 mm long and -27 mm 

 broad, whilst the nucleus measured -23 by -18 mm. It passed through 



1) In this connection it is interesting to note that Spengel has de- 

 scribed a toad with a true ovo-testis — Biddeb's organ being attached to 

 its anterior end. 



