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and placed far forwards in the abdominal cavity. The vasa 
deferentia communicate with the ureters and terminate upon a 
cloacal generative organ, external to which on either side, and 
mostly attached to the anal fins, are the claspers. The female 
organs are (as in the male) situated far forwards, and remark- 
able by the modification of the two oviducts, which are not 
merely distinct from one another, but also from the ureters, 
while they terminate upon a prominent urethral clitoris, 
situated between the outlet for the oviducts. The ova are few, 
and the ovaries occasionally coalescent into one body, are com- 
paratively smaller than in osseous fishes. Different parts of 
the oviduct may be functionally modified. The ova are 
fertilised while still contained within the oviduct, where the 
ova are delayed, and the young may be either occluded in horny 
cases or even produced alive. 
But it is not my purpose to enter upon the breeding of 
cartilaginous fishes, but to limit my observations to-day to a 
few notes upon this function as observed in the bony or true 
fishes (Teleosteans), for it is among this sub-class that we find 
most of our eatable forms. 
In the Teleosteans or bony fishes, we observe considerable 
differances in the form of the male generative organs, but all 
have one phenomenon in common, which is a great seasonal 
augmentation in size in such as are not sterile. This organ 
when arrived at seasonal maturity, is commonly termed the 
“soft roe” or “milt.” It is well known that it is not 
necessary for fishes to have attained adult size in order to be 
capable of the reproductive process, the milt being found fully 
developed, as seen in the parr or young of the salmon. Without 
detailing the different forms in which these organs exist, it will 
suffice to remark that when vasa deferentia are absent in the males, 
oviducts are similarly wanting in the females, the parallelism 
between these organs in the two sexes being, as a rule, very 
close. When the testis is single so is the ovary. But in some 
cases, as in the Salmonide, although vasa deferentia are present 
in the male there are no ducts in the female. In most osseous 
fishes the ovaries form two elongated sacs, closed anteriorly 
