332 



Haswell^) as passing into the "immense epididymes", but they are 

 not indicated in the accompanying figure (Fig. 804). We have been 

 unable to procure a copy of Mazza's contribution to the subject, for 

 an abstract of which we are indebted to Professor Wiedersheim. 



Redeke refers in a note to Mazza's conclusions which are, that 

 the testis and epididymis are not directly connected with one another, 

 and that the sperms appear to pass into a section of the body- cavity, 

 thence reaching the vas deferens by means of canals (? mesonephric 

 tubules). Redeke owns that he was unable to ascertain how the 

 sperms reached the spermiduct, and that he could not with certainty 

 distinguish a sexual portion of the kidney such as is described in 

 Selachians. Bashford Dean '^) also apparently believes in the absence 

 of a "Geschlechtsniere". 



We have not been able to find any other references to this special 

 point in the urinogenital organs of Chimaeroids except in the 3rd 

 English Edition of Wiedersheim's "Comparative Anatomy" 3), the 

 statements in which, on pp. 454 and 465, are based upon Redeke's 

 work. 



For the specimens on which our observations were made, we are 

 indebted to Mr. J. J. Neale of Cardiff. We have found considerable 

 difficulty in procuring Chimaera in a sufficiently good state of preserv- 

 ation for our purposes, but Mr. Neale was kind enough to obtain 

 several specimens for us, both male and female, caught in May and 

 October 1908, in deep water below 120 fathoms off the south-west 

 coast of Ireland: — these were put in ice as soon as caught, and in 

 one adult male the sperms were still moving in the seminal vesicle 

 when we received the fish. 



After examining the urinogenital organs in situ and then removing 

 them from the body, they were preserved in various ways : — corrosive 

 sublimate, formalin, and alcohol. When we had made out as much 

 as possible by dissection, serial sections were cut in various planes, 

 and it was only by this method that we were able to follow the further 

 course of the very fine efferent ducts. In order to check our results, 

 we constructed a rough clay model of the regions sectioned. 



1) Text-Book of Zoology, Vol. 2, p. 179, London 1897. A paper 

 on Callorhynchus by Edmund C. Hobson, M. D., in the Tasmanian Journal 

 of Nat. Science (Agriculture, Statistics etc.), Vol. 1, 1842, throws no 

 light on this point. 



2) Bashford Dean, Chimaeroid Fishes and their Development. 

 Carnegie Institute of Washington, 1906. 



3) WiEDEESHEiM and Parker, Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates, 

 London 1907. 



