^259. 



THE CEPHALOPODA. 



297 



which it is seen of a milk-white color. Its posterior extremity is attached, 

 by a short, small ligament, to a kind of piston which forms the anterior por- 

 tion of the projectile apparatus. 



This piston is a solid, cylindrical body, continuous behind with a spiral 

 ligament which is contained in a thin sheath extending to the posterior 

 extremity of the flibe, in a fold of which it terminates.'-' 



The Spermatophores are evidently formed in the upper glandular portion of 

 the deferent canal, where droplets of sperm are often seen arranged in rows, 

 and, at first, appear surrounded by simple, colorless envelopes ; these, as 

 they advance in the Vas deferens, gradually resemble more and more the 

 perfect Spermatophores. 



Those found in the Bursa Needhamii are always regularly arranged, and 

 sometimes form, lengthwise, several superposed layers. . Their anterior 

 extremities always point forwards, and not unfrequently their posterior 

 ends are bound together by long, flattened, interlaced filaments. These 

 Spermatophores are in the highest degree hygroscopic : they absorb liquids 

 very quickly, and then their posterior extremity bursts, allowing the escape 

 of the compressed spiral ligament together with its sheath, and the piston, 

 which draws with it the sperm-sac to which it is attached. <^' 



The projection of the seminal sacs occurs, most probably, at the moment 

 when, during coition, the Spermatophores pass from the penis of the male 

 into the sac of the mouth of the female. A true intromission of the penis 

 into the female genital opening, appears impossible with these animals, so 

 that coition consists only in a simple juxtaposition of the genital organs. ''" 

 The fecundation of the eggs should occur very early — while the eggs are 



2 Needham (An account of some new Microscop- 

 ical Discoveries, London, 1745, or Nouv. d^couv. 

 faites avec le Microsc. Leyde, 1747, PI. III. IV.), 

 was the first who described accurately the Sper- 

 matophores of Loligo vulgaris. With those of 

 the LoUgina, the posterior extremity is enlarged, 

 with one or two constrictions, and contains the 

 spiral ligament with its sheath ; the piston also, 

 from its deep-brown color, is easily seen; see Krohn, 

 in Froriep''s neue Notiz. XII. 1839, p. 17, fig. 20 

 (Sepia); Milne Edwards, Ann. d. Sc. Nat. XVIII. 

 1842, p. 335, PI. XU. fig. 1-5, XIII. fig. 1-6 

 {Loligo and Sepia); Peters, in Muller's Arch. 

 1842, p. 334, Taf. XVI. fig. 11 (Sepiola). With 

 those of Octopus, and Eledone, the posterior en- 

 largement is very slight, and often, at this point, 

 the env«lope is entirely involuted ; the seminal sac, 

 moreover, is remarkable from its spiral form ; see 

 Milne Edwards, loc. cit. p. 338, PI. XIII. fig. 

 8-10, XIV. fig. 1-6 (Octopus and Eledone); 

 Pkilippi, in Muller's Arch. 1839, p. 301, Taf. XV. 

 fig. 1-6 (Eledone); this last author has erroneously 

 taken the spiral turns of the hgament for hooks 

 painting backwards. 



S Jtedi (De Animalculis vivis quae in corporibus 

 animalium vivorum reperiuntur, Lugd. Batav. 1729, 

 p. 252, Tab. II. fig. 2), was the first who saw 

 these Spermatophores ; but he took them for worms. 

 Sivammerdamm, on the other hand (Bib. d. Natur, 

 p. 353, Taf. LII. fig. 6, 7), and especially Needham 

 (loc. cit.), had a correct idea of their nature, for 

 thoy regarded the white substance they contained 

 aa sperm, and the Spermatophores themselves as a 

 kind of cases or machines. But this did not pre 

 veut the later anatomists from regarding tliem a3 

 parasites. Thus Delle Cliiaje described those of 

 Octopus and Sepia under the names of Monosto- 

 mum octopodis, and Scolex dibothrius (Mem. IV. 

 p. 53, Tav. LV. fig. 8, 14, 9, 9A). Even latterly, this 

 naturalist has not relinquished this opinion, for he 



has figured anew, as an Entozoa, and even as an 

 Eckinorhynchus, the uncoiled Spermatophores of 

 Loligo (Descriz. UI. 1841, p. 138, Tav. XI. fig. 

 12, 13). fVagner, also, formerly regarded those 

 of Sepia as containing an Eckinorhynchus, and 

 has figured as such the piston with the spiral Uga- 

 ment in a rudmientary state (Lehrb. d. vergleich. 

 Anat. 1835, p. 312, and Muller's Arch. 1836, p. 

 230, Taf. IX. fig. B. C). 



Cams went even still further, and described the 

 Spermatophores as gigantic spermatic animals un- 

 der the name of Needhamia expulsoria ; and re- 

 garded the parts they contained, such as the 

 sperm-sac, the piston, the spiral ligament, &c., as 

 a colon, a small intestine, a stomach, a crop, and 

 an oesophagus (Nov. Act. Acad. Nat. Cur. XIX. I. 

 1839, p. 3, Tab. I., and Eriauterungstaf. loc. cit. 

 lift. V. 1840, p. 4, Taf. I. fig. 10). It was not until 

 1839, a time when several naturalists were con- 

 vinced of the presence of spermatic particles in the 

 sperm-sac, that the true nature of tBese bodies was 

 fully understood ; see Philippi, in Muller's Arcli. 

 1839, p. 301 ,' Krohn, in Froricp's neue Notiz. 

 XII. 1839, p. 17 i Siebold, Beitriige z. Natur- 

 geschichte d. wirbell. Thiere, 1839, p. 51; Peters, in 

 Muller's Arch. 1840, p. 98, and Milne Edwards, 

 Ann. d. Sc. Nat. XIII. 1840, p. 193. Leuckart 

 (Zool. Bruclistucke, Hft. II. 1841, p. 93) has given 

 the history and criticism of the opinions relating to 

 the sperm machines of Needham. 



4 Aristotle (Hist. Animal, lib. V. cap. 6) had 

 already declared that tlie Cephalopoda copulate by 

 a kind of embrace. From the observations of Le- 

 bert and Robin (loc. cit. p. 135, and Ann. d. Sc. 

 Nat. IV. 1845, p. 95, PI. IX. fig. 5, 6), it would 

 appear that the males do not deposit the spermatic 

 particles further in than the cavity of the mantle 

 of the females ; for they observed, with a female 

 Loligo, numerous Spermatophores glued to the 

 internal surface of this cavity, near the oviduct. 



