REPRODUCTIVE ELEMENTS IN MYXINE GLUTINOSA. 51 



Taf. ii, fig. 8. — Yolk granules from ripe egg of Myxiue ; 

 some are free, but some contained in a spherical capsule. 



Taf. ii, fig. 5. — Ripe egg from ovary of Bdellostoma 

 Forsteri, natural size ; it is 3*1 cm. in length. 



The description of Miiller is the only one which has ever 

 been given of the male generative organ of Myxine, and it 

 agrees in the main with the structure of the young testis, 

 which I shall describe in this paper ; but Miiller did not under- 

 stand completely the more minute structure of the organ, nor 

 recognise the significance of what he saw. At the time 

 when Miiller's account of the female organ was written only 

 the ovarian egg was known, and his description of it is correct 

 except that part which refers to the structure of the germinal 

 vesicle. He says nothing of the development of the egg or of 

 its relation to the ovary. His figures have the same qualities 

 as his description ; they represent correctly what can be seen 

 by ordinary dissection vvithout minute investigation. 



The next addition to our knowledge on this subject was 

 made by Dr. Allen Thomson, in 1859. In the article " Ovum,'' 

 in 'Todd's Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology/ that author 

 gives the following very scanty account of the mature ovum 

 of Myxine : — " I have found that in the Myxine glutinosa 

 the globular yolk is enclosed in a horny capsule of similar 

 consistence and structure (he has been describing the ovum of 

 Elasmobranchs), but of a simple elongated ellipsoidal shape ; 

 and in place of four terminal angular tubes there are a number 

 of trumpet-shaped tubular processes projecting from the middle 

 of the two ends^ which probably serve the same purpose as the 

 differently shaped appendages of the ova of the shark and 

 skate." 



He gives a figure of the egg which has been copied in most 

 of the recent text- books and works on Ichthyology. It is 

 correct in shape, but it represents in outline the globular 

 ovum contained within the capsule, the former being much 

 smaller than the latter. It is evident, from both description 

 and figure, that Dr. Thomson was under the impression that 

 the capsule of the ovum of Myxine, with its polar processes, 



